One of the few Tom Cruise films where you forget it’s Tom Cruise and you just see the character.

What I love about this movie is that the Japanese characters speak Japanese among themselves and not English

One thing I really like about this movie is that Algren actually participated in the raid on the Native Americans even though he opposed it. Unlike the cliché that the hero just stays back and therefore is innocent, it gives a sense of realism

As far as the "not using guns" thing goes, I like to focus on the line "NO LONGER dishonors himself by using firearms". "No longer" being the key words, which implies that he is well versed in their use, as history would also suggest. I like to think that he chooses to no longer use them because he knows his rebellion is not a winnable war, but a message to the emperor to not forget the old ways. He has condensed his tactics down to only the most "honorable" and symbolic ones, Only using the things that the imperial army has "forgotten" or compromised on. He fights not as the samurai actually fight, but as the legends and stories SAY they fight. Blade and bow, discipline and tradition. Anything less is just another losing battle by an inferior force

"Tell me...how did he die?" "I will tell you how he lived"

America to Japan: You’re going to trade with us and you’re going to like it

When Matthew Perry arrived in Edo Bay, he said to Japan “Could you be any more closed?”

I loved the scenes were they were simply talking, especially between Katsumoto and Algren.

OUR MEN ARE RUNNING FROM THE FIELD OF BATTLE!! A MOST SHAMEFUL DISPLAY

"Transition from feudal to imperial Japan" They skipped castle age

KATSUMOTO: “The perfect blossom is a rare thing. You could spend your life looking for one, and it would not be a wasted life.” KATSUMOTO: “Perfect. They are all perfect.”

The end of the battle on the field always brings me to tears. As Nick said, it is the perfect metaphor for times changing. Like English Knights getting shot down by the British Colonial Army's rows of soldiers. It is the perfect metaphor for times changing. As one way of life dies, another one rises above the ashes.

"our men are running from the battlefield, a shamefull display" me playing shogun 2 while watching this viedeo "Wait what?"

Reasons for fighting for a cause.... The Last Samurai-The main character is mesmerized by the Samurai and their cause The Avatar- Jake Sully wants to get laid

“The general actually fought with katsumoto for the emperor” “He fought with the samurai” “He IS samurai

Despite being born into a family of samurai, Yataro Iwasaki founded the Mitsubishi corporation. He made important investments in shipping preceding and following the Meiji Restoration, and he became a successful and wealthy businessman and financier! I think about that every time I see a Mitsubishi on the road.

My Grandmother was Japanese and when she saw the movie, she talked about the real samurai, Saigo Takamori. He's still revered in Japan as a hero of the Old Ways.

You missed one of the best parts of the movie, where the Emperor Meiki asks "Tell me how he died and Algren responds "I will tell you how he lived."

Definitely my favorite Tom Cruise role. I've rarely seen such effective subtly in an actor's performance as with his performance as Algren. So much of the film required him to use nothing but his eyes to convey intense emotions, and goddamn did he nail it. The last two sequences of the film with Meiji and then Taka contain some of the most effective acting from a leading man I have ever seen. This film is a true gem.

"Trade with us or get invaded" Well that just makes the next hundred years until the end of WW2 make so much more sense now.

That scene of the Samurai being mowed down by the Gatling guns always gets me.

"From the moment they wake, they devote themselves to the perfection of whatever they pursue." Ideals to live by.

Also, most of the military advisors weren't american but prussian, see Jacob Meckel. Meckel left behind a loyal group of Japanese admirers, who, after his death, had a bronze statue of him erected in front of his former army college in Tokyo. Overall, the Imperial Japanese Army intensively oriented its organization along Prusso-German lines when building a modern fighting force during the 1880s. There is a reason why a lot of middle school uniforms look like prussian military uniforms over there

Tom Cruise his best role and character he ever played! There i said it.

The speed at which Japan came through its Industrial Revolution and went from being an isolationist Nation to ultimately having a massive Navy and attacking Pearl Harbour was astronomical. Essentially went from being a Medieval Society to one of the most technologically advanced on Earth now.

One thing you also could have mentioned is that Tom Cruise is not "The Last Samurai" as a lot of people seem to think, and make fun of the movie for. The last samurai in the movie are Katsumoto and his followers, not Tom Cruise.

“I am beset by the ironies of my life…” God, this movie has fantastic writing.

16:55 "He is Samurai" and the look on his face. Always gives me the chills. I my opinion those 4 seconds have all the information you needs to understand what samurai means.

"Fire at will" Will- "Wait What"

"Shameful Display" savage reference

My cousin is a college professor. Every new class gets the same warning after their first book report. "Do Not watch a Hollyweard creation and expect to pass a history or literature test."

This is one of the movies that I will watch whenever it comes on. Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe are just so enjoyable to watch on screen. Plus the theme of striking a balance between new and old always amazes me.

Ken Watanabe is a fantastic actor. Loved him in this and Letters from Iwo Jima.

Achieving 300 years of development in 20 years...yup that's Japan all right.

The reason why Japan expelled all foreigners is because the Christian missionaries were instigating religious revolts. Tokugawa Ieyasu, remembering the whole sohei rebellion incident in mount hiei, wanted to avoid it all costs.

Jules Brunet (2 January 1838 - 12 August 1911) was a French Army officer who played a famous role in the Japanese Boshin War. He was sent to Japan with the French military mission of 1867 and after the defeat of the shōgun had an important role in the Republic of Ezo. He later became a General and Chief of Staff of the French Minister of War in 1898.

Fun fact: 1) flintlock musket was one of the traditional weapons of the samurai since 16th century. 2) Just as there are traditional iaijutsu, kenjutsu and sojutsu (spear) schools there are also traditional teppojutsu (gunpowder weapon) schools. 3) Takamori's rebel army used rifles and artillery just like the Imperial Army. 4) Takamori was wearing a western style commander uniform in his last stand.

Knock Knock. It's the United States. With huge boats. With guns. Gunboats. Matthew Perry: Open the country. Stop having it be closed.

"We samurai find these guns dishonorable" *Oda Nobunaga has entered the chat.

The lieutenant’s reaction when the samurai are being gunned down is incredible

Tokugawa Japan wasn't closed to all foreigners. The Dutch had a trade station called Deshima in the Bay of Nagasaki, and this is still reflected in Japanese medical jargon (the Japanese imported European medical knowledge via the Dutch Island), which has Dutch words in it. The Europeans stationed there by the Dutch East India Company were not allowed to enter the Japanese mainland, but they were allowed to import and export goods on a limited scale. As for this movie, it's a mess historically. However, I am quite fond of it on a metaphorical level. If you view Katsumoto and his Samurai as the metaphorical embodiments of the Old Japan, struggling against the rise of the New Japan, it really works.

"Tell me, how did he die?" *Starts to weep* *Looks up to the emperror* "I will tell you... how he lived." This moment gives me chills, tears and a smile every single time

I'm Japanese and I love this movie so much. I was so reluctant to watch it at first but I am so glad that I put my skepticism aside~

The Last Samurai is hands down my favourite movie of ALL time! I think it was beautiful and perfectly executed in so many ways.

"The First Weeaboo"

Chokes me up when they kneel in respect at the end.

Man the beginning of your video, the charge of the Light Brigade, Zulu tribesmen, etc. was a masterpiece.

I like how you included a lot of scenes from Kagemusha, the original (and historically accurate) case of horseback samurai charging and being mowed down by guns.

The really dumb thing about the movie is that they somehow have this stupid no gun rule for Samurai. The dumb thing about it is that in real life, Japan absolutely loved firearms when they first got them from the Portuguese. They loved them so much that they built their own gun foundries and factories and by the end of the 16th and early 17th century, there were more firearms in Japan than the rest of the world combined (I'll bet you never thought you'd hear THAT sentence uttered in seriousness). They even developed the most advanced muskets in the world at the time. They had muskets that could be reliably reloaded and fired in the rain, something that didn't exist in the West until the early 19th century with the percussion mechanism. The idea that a Samurai would consider guns to be dishonorable is stupid. A real samurai would have used everything and anything they had to their advantage in battle, and totally did.

Samurai: trained for their whole lives in the sword, the spear and the bow Soldier: a conscript from a town 3 months ago that demolishes with superior technology

Film brings me to tears each time I watch it. hands off to the excellent direction and score.

Fantastic movie through and through, and the music gets me eeeeevery single time. Both this and Master and Commander are amongst my absolute favs when I want to immerse myself into a period in history, when it comes to movies. Love them so, so much!

17:54 "Our men are running from the battlefield. A shameful display" That caught me off-guard LOL

Gut wrenching, that's how the final battle hit me. What an amazing film. Cruise's arguably finest film.

I have watched this video multiple times now. The Last Samurai is one of my top-five favorite films of all time. I absolutely love this channel, and I really appreciate all that Nick does. Thank you for amazing content!

I still find the romance arc pure black comedy. "Your husband is dead. Here. Take care of the man who killed him." XD

That Total War: Shogun 2 reference lol

"until the dawn they hold on, only 40 are left at the end. None alive, none survive shiroyama" ~Sabaton (Shiroyama)

The transition from painting to Charge of the Scott's Gray's with the music is still one of the coolest things I've ever seen

The sound track still hits me in the feels. What an excellent movie. I went into this not expecting historic accuracy...the story is still really good and I HATE Tom Cruise.

Something that always kinda annoyed we was when people would poke fun at "Tom Cruise being the last samurai", when the title refers to the samurai collectively. (Because there's no plural of the word "samurai.") It's a story about the last samurai as a warrior class, not the last dude who was a samurai.

well Hans Zimmer did a bloody great job in it

17:54 Its cool that the guy from shogun 2 is in this movie. So it might actually be something that was said during the battle.

I heard once from a Japanese's KZfaq channel that despite it's inaccuracies, this movie is well loved by Japanese in general.

I know historically this film has a lot of inaccuracies; but it's one of my favorite movies of all time! Beautiful film and extremely underated.

Victory erases all dishonor. Shogun 2 fans will know.

I would just like to add that aside from being a great and informative video you have one of the best channel intros I have seen in a while, well done. I love Japanese history and I thoroughly enjoyed this video, thank you for expanding my knowledge and understanding.

Back in the late 2000s, they used to show The Last Samurai back home in Bangladesh like a daily ritual. By far my most watched movie ever, and I agree, it is a masterpiece.

A small objection; not all foreigners were banned from Japan. Chinese traders were often in Japan, scholars, and what not more. But, even more important perhaps, the Dutch were allowed to trade with the Japanese and were given their own tiny little island in Nagasaki (Deshima) to operate on. On an annual basis they were even summoned to audience with the Shogun. Japan even had Western Studies back then (Rangaku; technically Dtuch studies)

Something that I like about this movie, is that cases like this where an outsider accepts and embraces another culture, actually happend during colonization. A real life example of that is the story of Gonzallo Guerrero. He was a Spaniard that went to the new world with Hernand Cortes to colonise the land, but the boat where he and his crew where sunk due to an enormous storm. He escaped the ship with other of his comrads and naufrage on a beach of the yucatan Peninsula. As soon as they touch land, they were captured by the locan Mayan people and some of them, along with Gonzalo, were sell to slavery and the rest were sacrificed. Gonzallo spend an unknown amount of years as a slave, Gonzalo stared to see the lives of the Maya and stared to learn their language and teach them military techniques to fight against the Spaniards that where slowly colonizing the peninsula. He slowly fell in love with the culture and saved a mayan chief's live from an alligator during a walk. He became a military leader with Mayan battle scars printed on his skin, he wearer the mayan clothes and their earnings. He felt in love with the Mayan chief's daughter and had three children with her. Before dying in battle at the side of the Mayan he wrote to Cortes after he send messengers to save him, he gave them a letter that wrote "For the live that this land of green brought me, I will tell them my brothers (the Spaniards) that I will stay here in the land of my people"

People still call this out as “WHITE PERSON IS GOD” movie. But no. This seems like a movie celebrating the culture, and drama of the time.

I must say I'm glad, and kind of surprised that you liked this one. I've always loved it, but there are some things that make it an easy target. Every time I watch it, it gets more relevant. "What could be more necessary?" That line gets me every time.

Matthew C. Perry: "Open the Country. Stop having it be closed."

Regardless of any historical inaccuracies this is by far one of my favorite films!

This channels intro never gets old. I always get so pumped when it starts.

This is one of the best early 2004 or 2005 movies I’ve ever seen. The cinematography, the acting, the score are all grate and is highly underrated and I watch this movie at least once a year. Also please do the last of the Mohicans because that is also a grate one

US soldier: I committed war crimes and feel suicidal. Japanese: hold my beer.

18:10 The Shogun 2 Total War audio clip made me chuckle. Nice addition HB :D

One of my favorite movies. Even though lots of creative liberties were probably taken, still a fantastic story. A story that needs to be told more often. 🙂

first time on this channel and i'm immediately impressed by the intro ALONE lol so much creativity goes into the animations

My lord our men are running from the battle field. Shameful display.

It should be mentioned, that there were still some regulated trades being made with the Dutch during the Sakoku period. Many Japanese learned Dutch from them and some science, as well as news from distant lands, which also explains why they caught up so fast with the rest of the world techwise and were capable of learning English later on. By the way, one of the first interpreters ever sent to America wasn't even surprised with the technology and gadgets he saw.

3:55 that one didn't age quite so well. RIP Matthew Perry (1969-2023)

I LOVE the addition of the sound bite from Shogun Total War 2. Don't think we missed that!

I don't know why but I feel an inexplicable need for a movie about the opening of Japan with Matthew Perry playing Commodore Mathew Perry.

one of the few historical movies where even though its completely inaccurate, I couldn't help but like the movie.

All of the research you do for each video has certainly made you a stronger historian overall.

Fantastic film, and by far Han Zimmer's most evocative score. It just never gets old - simply beautiful.

3:44 “Open the Country. Stop...having it be closed.”

Of course, the most unbelievable moment in the film is when Algren is left a box containing some Japanese clothing. In the next scene, he appears perfectly dressed, which he apparently managed with no help. I can tell you from experience that *no one* can properly tie a Japanese hakama on the first attempt with no assistance or instruction!

My wife was never a movie buff( me, yup) I'm getting to show her classic cinema- this being one of them- great vid- your hard work doesn't go unnoticed or underapreciated. Thank you

Wonderful film, in so many ways, and a great History Buffs exposition!

They went from an isolationist feudal country to one of the largest and powerful Asian Empires in the World in less than 80 years, then economically destroyed in World War II to becoming one of the largest most powerful world economies in a span of less than 30 years.

One quick note is that the line about Katsumoto not using guns goes "He NO LONGER uses firearms", meaning that he did do it earlier. This could open up the interpretation that he did indeed run out of ammunition, but simply spun it as a deliberate decision as propaganda.

Recently found this channel and I've enjoyed each episode you've done! Appreciate the cuss words used at the right proper moments too! Keep up the entertaining work and I look forward to more of your content. Subscribed.

Thank you for reminding me why this movie is so great despite being a heartbreaking tale rather than a history lesson. i still cry at the final battle ending every time I see it.

Oh my god that total war reference!! ''how soldiers are running from the battlefield! a shameful display!'' XD made my day

Im so glad i found you

Dammit, I almost teared up after watching a fraction of the final battle alone. Such an emotionally strong movie.

The main thing I hate about this movie is portraying the Japanese as ignorant to firearms. During the sengoku jidai Japan had tons of firearms maybe not 1800 level firearms but they were not completely ignorant to the concept