My guess: Rurouni Kenshin. Sanosuke dresses like Ryu (see above). It used to come on Cartoon Network on their Toonami block, which I believe was 4-6 or 5-7 or something eastern time, so if you live in a different time zone, it could easily have been middle of the day. Shishio licked his blade a lot, and I'm sure other people did as well (it was a samurai show after all).
If that's not it, then more details would help.