New segment also debuts with song on October 5; anime gets special on September 16

The official website for the Doraemon children's television anime revealed on Friday that Gen Hoshino's song "Doraemon" will be the new opening theme song for the anime beginning on October 5, when the anime moves to TV Asahi's "Anime Time" programming block on Saturdays. The song was originally the theme song for Doraemon the Movie: Nobita's Treasure Island , the 2018 film that is the franchise's highest-grossing film.

In addition, the site revealed that the anime's new weekly segment will be titled "Suneo to Shigeo" (Suneo & Shigeo). The new regular segment features Savanna comedy duo member Shigeo Takahashi and the Doraemon character Suneo talking about the new gadget that appears in that week's episode.

The anime will also get a television special on September 16 titled "Ohikkoshi Kinen! Doraemon Tanjōbi Special" (Moving Celebration! Doraemon Birthday Special). The special will include a new episode titled "Mirai no Labyrinth Okashi Castle" (Labyrinth of the Future, Castle of Sweets), as well as a rerun of the requested episode "Nazo no Pyramid!? Egypt Daibōken" (The Mysterious Pyramid?! Grand Adventure in Egypt). It will also feature a short anime explaining the anime's move to a new time slot.

Doraemon has been airing on Friday evenings for 38 years since October 1981, shortly after premiering in a different timeslot in April 1979. It is moving to Saturdays along with Crayon Shin-chan. Both shows are regularly among the highest rated animation programs in Japan every week, usually behind Sazae-san and Chibi Maruko-chan.

The manga creator duo Fujiko Fujio debuted their famous Doraemon robot cat manga in 1969. The manga inspired three television anime series that have collectively lasted over four decades, television specials, and yearly anime films. The third series debuted in April 2005 with a new main voice cast.

TV Asahi has been airing the Crayon Shin-chan anime based on the late Yoshito Usui's manga of the same name since 1992. The anime also has a series of 27 films.

Sources: Doraemon website, Comic Natalie