Yeah I was wrong. He's based off of Jules Brunet who was a french officer that trained the Tokugawa samurai in the use of modern weaponry of the time. He sided with the resistance against the emperor of Japan until he was evacuated by a french warship later on when the resistance was defeated. He wasnt a samurai by any means but he was a real guy

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

The story's title is in reference to "The last of the Samurai", not Tom being a Samurai, and the last one.

Kind of reminds me of Big Trouble in Little China, where the story follows a white guy, and the true heroes are in the background.

That's the narrative shared by the studio which I begrudgingly accept. Even though the title and Tom being the face of it muddles it a lot. And I also don't consider it a good movie.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago

I mean, it's a common trope in story telling to use an outsider protagonist (from the perspective of the people in the story) to allow world building and immersion in the world/culture your story is set within.

So, the "guy with amnesia", "orphan kid", "dude in a foreign land", "time traveler", "new person in the organization", "certain types of isekai" tropes all exist to tell a story where the reader/viewer get to learn as they go.

Fairly popular in historical fiction, fantasy, and many other genera.

It makes "Shogun", "The Last Samurai", "Marco Polo", "Big Trouble in Little China", and others like them more accessible to "Western" aka "white guy" demographics.

I don't really see an issue with it, when done well.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

It's also not pitched as being based on a true story. I take less issue with him becoming a samurai than surviving the last real samurai, lol.