Cosmo Samurai

Cosmo Samurai is a 4-part Toonami Total Immersion Event (T.I.E.) that premiered on February 6, 2021 at midnight and concluded on February 27, 2021. Cosmo Samurai, the ninth Toonami T.I.E., was announced on January 30, 2021 through a promo during the Toonami broadcast. Unlike all previous T.I.E.s (except IGPX) which are animated in 3-D using CGI, Cosmo Samurai is animated in 2-D in an anime art style.

This was Toonami's first non-canonical T.I.E., meaning it features the Toonami characters (i.e. TOM and SARA) but does not impact the ongoing Toonami narrative or the characters themselves. The event is directed by Toshiyuki Tsuru and animated by Telecom. All dialogue in the T.I.E. is spoken in Japanese with English subtitles, similar to the April Fools 2018 broadcast.

Episode 1
Air Date: February 6, 2021

With the Absolution under attack from an unknown enemy, TOM is force ejected by  SARA in an escape pod. During the countdown to warp, TOM's pod is damaged by the enemy. His hyperspace jump is successful but only lasts a few seconds before the pod makes an emergency warp out of hyperspace and explodes. A broken TOM is then seen floating in space before fading from consciousness. However, TOM is awakened by a group that calls themselves the Cosmo Samurai, aboard their ship the Cosmo. The Cosmo Samurai are a vigilante group that keep the system safe from space pirates and other extraterrestrial threats. The members include: Tsuruhime, a girl descended from a shogun that wields a samurai sword; Awaji, a ninja; Yasuke, a warrior that wields a spear; and Hakase, A cat hooked up to a floating pod that possesses the third most genius intellect in the universe.

Episode 2
Air Date: February 13, 2021

The crew asks TOM how he ended up in space. The latter explains that the Absolution was attacked by an unknown force. SARA and TOM attempted to fight the force but the latter ended up battle scarred, with SARA getting out of dodge, watching in horror. The two hosts head for the escape pods, and SARA launches the pod with TOM in it into deep space. After explaining how he ended up in pieces, Tsuruhime deduced that the force which attacked them was their mortal enemy: Akutou. Tsuruhime asks TOM to become their ally in order to take them down, he swiftly agrees and Hakase explains that he's rebuilding him in a more battle ready body.

Episode 3
Air Date: February 20, 2021

The Cosmo Samurai finds Akutou’s spaceship, with Hakase preparing the team to be teleported onboard, but tells them that he doesn’t have access to the ship’s blueprints, so he’ll hack the ship’s network to find out where the central command center is. TOM, Tsuruhime, Awaji, Yasuke and Hakase then teleport onto the ship, where Tsuruhime destroys the first guard robot. The team then continues through the ship as they encounter a large army of robots. Tsuruhime takes out some of the robots with her katana, while Awaji uses his shuriken to destroy the others before using a fire Jutsu to take out the rest. Yasuke then destroys a wave of robots with his spear before using his machine gun to take out the rest and TOM uses his new body’s weapons and blasters to destroy the remaining robots. TOM then thanks Hakase for the new body as Hakase tells him that he seems to have adjusted to his new body. The team then heads to the central command center, where Hakase hacks the door open. Once they enter, they confront Akutou as TOM realizes that Akutou has SARA held captive. TOM then vows to save SARA after telling her about his new makeover. Akutou though mocks them before Tsuruhime charges at him to attack, only to be deflected by Akutou’s barrier. Awaji then tries to get through the barrier with a fire Jutsu, but is unable to get through. Hakase scans the barrier and realizes that it protects Akutou from all angles of attack. Akutou then activates the ship’s weapons system, but Awaji uses an earth Jutsu to summon a barrier as the team ducks behind the earth wall. Akutou though summons more robots, which approach the team from the other side of their barrier.

Episode 4
Air Date: February 27, 2021

With the team pinned behind a barrier with the weapons system of Akutou’s spaceship, TOM, Tsuruhime, Awaji and Yasuke try to fend off the approaching robots while Hakase tries to hack into the ship’s systems. As the weapons system slowly destroys their barrier, Hakase manages to successfully hack into the ship and uses the weapons system to destroy the remaining robots. Hakase then tells the team that he has hacked into the ship’s host computer as he deactivates Akutou’s barrier. An angry Akutou tries to regain control of his ship before he angrily tosses SARA aside. TOM though catches SARA and frees her from her containment pod. As Tsuruhime faces Akutou, Akutou rips off his tail to use as a weapon and attacks her, but Tsuruhime manages to slice his tail in half before she kills Akutou with her sword, avenging her father’s death. Later, the team prepares to steal the loot onboard the ship, when a drone activates off of Akutou’s body and fires at the team. Awaji quickly protects Tsuruhime from the blast as it hits him, much to everyone’s shock. As Tsuruhime and Yasuke tend to Awaji, TOM attacks the drone with his blasters, while Hakase tries to hack the drone, but is unable to, causing Hakase to realize that someone else has taken external control. TOM activates his new targeting system and manages to blast the drone before Yasuke destroys it with his spear. The team then gathers around Awaji, who dies from his injuries. As the team grieves his death, Awaji reveals himself to be alive as they find him hanging from the ceiling, while the dead Awaji is revealed to be a clone. Suddenly, the ship’s computer activates as a shadowy figure appears on screen and expresses his disappointment at failing to kill one of them. He then reveals that he watched the entire battle and mocks them. Tsuruhime demands to know who he is and the shadowy figure reveals himself as the Boss and that Akutou was part of his syndicate. A surprised Tsuruhime then asks who Akutou was, but the Boss reveals that Akutou was just a pawn. TOM though tells the Boss that they’re coming for him next, but the Boss mocks him as TOM vows to face him. The Boss then kills his pet as he vows to crush them if they dare face him. TOM though introduces himself to the Boss and activates his battle mode as he vows to come for the Boss next.

Trivia

 * Jason DeMarco revealed on Twitter that the reason this T.I.E. will be non-canonical is because the director (Toshiyuki Tsuru) had a bright idea for a T.I.E. but didn't want to use the CGI models of Toonami's current hosts, namely TOM 6 and SARA v4. Williams Street and Adult Swim executives allowed him to "just do what you want to do".

Voice Cast

 * TOM - Yuki Ono
 * SARA - Maya Enoyoshi
 * Tsuruhime - Kana Yuuki
 * Awaji - Chiharu Sawashiro
 * Yasuke - Michitake Kikuchi
 * Hakase - Kousuke Goto
 * Akutou/Mid Boss - Akihiro Tajima
 * Boss - Jiro Sano
 * Narrator/Voice-over - Howard Parker