Crayon Shin-chan
, the popular anime that's been on the air in one form or another since its debut in the early 1990s, is about to get a companion series in the form of Crayon Shin-chan Shin-Men, a new comedic superhero series launching next month. The project, which will be produced by the surviving members of the late Yoshito Usui's studio, is part of a 20th anniversary Crayon Shin-chan initiative that will also see the reprinting of the original manga and the 20th animated film based on the property.

The spinoff is set in a parallel world known as "Shin Jigen" ("Shin Dimension"). The titular Shin-men team is composed of five heroes with supernatural powers symbolized by fire (Gō), water (Sui), wind (Hyū), greenery (Nyoki), and iron (Kan). Together, they fight against their enemy, the evil pigs of Ton-Men.

Anime News Network reports that Crayon Shin-chan Shin-Men will debut with a one-hour special this month and will serialize monthly from then on. A concurrent manga will launch in November's issue of Japan's Monthly Manga Town.

The Crayon Shin-chan anime was last seen in North America courtesy of FUNimation and Adult Swim in the mid-to-late 2000s. Featuring some contributions by Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer, this translation and re-writing of the series was fairly scatological in nature. The manga was one of the many published by CMX, DC Comics' defunct manga imprint.

More From ComicsAlliance