Cosmo Samurai is the eighth Total Immersion Event on Toonami aired in 2021. A two-part non-canonical event, this TIE differentiates itself from the others by being a full on anime, with animation done by Telecom. The series aired from February 6 to February 27.
TOM and SARA are attacked by the evil space pirate Akutou, who kidnaps SARA after she sends TOM out to the outskirts of space via escape pod. Unfortunately, the pod explodes, destroying TOM in the process. But a group of space fighters known as the Cosmo Samurai bring the broken TOM back to their base, and even give him a new body to assist them in their goal of stopping Akutou and his men.
All four episodes can be found on [adultswim]'s YouTube channel
, and a 13-minute compiled compilation can be found here.
The second part was released in 2022, airing from February 19 to March 12.
Cosmo Samurai has the following tropes:
- Disney Death: Akutou shoots Awaji from beyond the grave, seemingly killing him. But it's revealed afterwards that the one who actually got shot was his shadow clone.
- The Man Behind the Man: Akutou is actually a servant of a mysterious hooded man who refers to himself as "The Boss", the true mastermind.
- Sequel Hook: The final episode ends with the true mastermind of the attacks revealing himself, with TOM promising to take him down.
- Shout-Out: The main villain is named Akutou who wields shadow powers and dealing with samurai. Yeah, not even being subtle with this one.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The premise is similar to the old Toonami webcomic Toonami Endgame, which also involved an evil space pirate stealing SARA and TOM having to rescue her with the help of others.
