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

Episode 4
Air Date: February 27, 2021

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