Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
- Taka being forced to keep Algren at her home, i.e. the man who killed her husband. It gets better when they warm up.
- In a similar vein, Higen dueling with Algren in the rain. You can see the anger in his face as he tries in some small way to avenge his father.
- Algren's flashback to his time in the U.S. Cavalry under the command of Bagley doubles as both this trope and Nightmare Fuel. Bagley led a punitive attack against a Native American village; despite Algren's protests that the villagers had nothing to do with recent attacks on U.S forces, Bagley ordered the attack anyway, he and his men cutting down women and children without mercy and Algren swept along in the massacre. The final shot of the scene is Algren sobbing his eyes out, clearly tormented by his guilt over his participation in the massacre and regret he didn't do more to stop Bagley. All this is made worse by how Westerners continue to talk about the Native Americans as savages, justifying their atrocities, of which there are still more to come years after the film.
- The public shaming of Nobutada. Soldiers beat him to the ground, take away his daisho (katana and wakizashi swords), and then cut his chonmage (topknot) off as a method of humiliation. To a samurai, their honor is their life, and to many samurai, a chonmage was a symbol of honor. When his hair is cut, the cries of Nobutada combined with the score of Hans Zimmer is simply heartbreaking.
- Katsumoto's final plea to the Emperor to stand up to his council. He stands there in a bow and looks absolutely heartbroken that the Emperor won't speak up. Omura's smug smirk makes it worse.
- Nobutada's Last Stand after he is mortally wounded and bids a final goodbye to Katsumoto."Father, let me stay. My time has come"
- The conversation between Algren and Higen, where they both admit being scared, ending with the boy begging him to just go already as they both try not to cry. The hug makes it even worse.
- The Sad Battle Music moment during the climax, with shows how tragic it is to see not samurai and Imperial soldiers killing each other, but people of the same country killing each other over the country's "modernization" vs Honor Before Reason.
- The samurai's charge almost breaks through... but then they are coldly gunned down by the army's new Gatling guns. Already emotional enough, but then Hans Zimmer's score
turns it into an incredibly gut-wrenching spectacle, especially as the music stops completely as the Gatling guns obliterate the last of the samurai.- It's the sheer industrial finality of it that hammers it home. The samurai charge home, even against overwhelming numbers and modern guns and artillery and they not only fight but break through. And as they charge the last Imperial positions, Omura orders the new guns drawn up. The samurai draw every ounce of effort from their mounts, but the gatling guns open up. And it stops the charge dead. For all their honour, for all their lifetime of training, for all their courage, the samurai slam into (as described perfectly by one of the BTS gunnery experts) a wall of bullets and are cut down to a man. No matter what, no matter how they may wish to fight, the age of the warrior is over. Gunpowder is the god of the battlefield now and it shreds the Last Samurai to pieces.
- Moments later, Algren helps Katsumoto commit suicide... and as Katsumoto is dying, he sees a Cherry Blossom tree in bloom. As he sees the blossoms fall, he finally realizes, "Perfect. They are... all... perfect...". Pass the Kleenex, please."I will miss our conversations."
- The reaction from the Japanese Army to the passing of Katsumoto and the samurai by all bowing before their bodies as a mark of respect is incredibly moving.
- The way that, when presented it by Algren, the Emperor looks at and holds Katsumoto's sword. He knows that the man who was his teacher and most loyal servant is dead and this thing is all that's left of him and his ideals. What happens next is simultaneously awesome and heartwarming.
- When Nathan, during the battle, stops and watches all of the samurai, whose faces have become familiar to him (and the audience) during his captivity, as they die. Which one hits the hardest? Bob's death at the start of the sequence, who performs his duty in the end by defending Nathan from attack while hollering out a warning to him.
- The Meiji restoration can be seen as a very sad time for the people who lived it. Imagine being forced against your will to give up the culture and traditions your people have had for centuries and suddenly being forced to conform to this completely alien way of life. All the while, everything you knew and loved is condemned and treated as uncivilized.
