@kalsskideooj I promised to watch the movie and come back to you with my thoughts on it, took me way longer than expected but here it is.
For those unaware, Kishimoto stated way back in 2006 Shinya Tsukamoto is one of his favorite film directors of all time
Shinya Tsukamoto's most popular film is Tetsuo: The Iron Man a cyberpunk body horror movie
The movie is quite short, barely over an hour long. Its plot, to put it simple, is about two men who slowly transform into a metal entity. Tsukamoto had explained this as a critique or commentary of Japan's industrialization post WWII, however many have pointed out the homoerotic subtext of the film
The two main characters are the Salaryman (who some believe to be called Tetsuo) and the Machine Fetishist. After the Salaryman runs over the Machine Fetishist with his car almost killing him, the Machine Fetishist curses the Salaryman with a condition that will slowly transform him into a metal entity.
Some interpret this moment as the Salaryman, who is initially presented as the submissive and plain Japanese salary man, meeting another queer outcast. Some argue that the Salaryman having sex with his girlfriend right in front of the Machine Fetishist agonizing body is representative of an awakening because the Salaryman keeps his gaze on the Machine Fetishist.
This encounter, like I said, changes everything for the Salaryman, who is now unable to have intimacy with his girlfriend like before. We get little details like the sound of a metal spoon, turning on the salaryman as well as fantasies of the salaryman's girlfriend mutating into some cyborg with a metal pipe probe with which she sodomizes the salaryman
The couple is very sexually active yet sexually dissatisfied. The Salaryman does not seem to enjoy regular heterosexual sex as both times we're shown the couple engaging in sex, the Salaryman is very awkward and even unintentionally hurts his partner
Ultimately, as the Salaryman tries to have sex with his girlfriend as he'd usually does after meeting the Metal Fetishist, he notices his penis has transformed into a drill
As he undergoes this transformation he tries to fight it back and resist it, causing him great physical pain and emotional distress. The Salaryman begs his girlfriend not to leave him after revealing this "truth" about himself but he ends up accidentally killing her after penetrating her
Unable to keep fighting back his transformation into a metal entity, The Salaryman is now being chased by the Machine Fetishist.
The Machine Fetishist is an outcast who transforms himself into a metal entity by mutilating his body and inserting metal pieces into it. He is presented as the antagonist of the film who disrupts The Salaryman's uneventful lifestyle.
Something I found quite interesting is how overtly queer his physical appearance is, as he's shown putting on makeup and having a very flamboyant and andrognynous look; very similar to how Kishimoto would draw Cursed Seal design.
So basically, in Tetsuo: The Iron Man, queerness is presented as otherness and this otherness is shown in the characters' appearance that clearly defies the traditional gendered binary status quo. Similar to how Kishimoto tends to present the outcasts of his series (Sasuke, Haku, Orochimaru and his pupils and so on) with either an androgynous look during their transformations or straight up dressed as the opposite gender.
Both Tsukamoto and Kishimoto tie this otherness to heresy. The outcasts of their work are heretics that have been driven out of their respective village
The climax of the film is the Salaryman and the Metal Fetishist final fight which is framed as seduction, teasing and homosexual sex.
As they fight, The Metal Fetishist tells the Salaryman who still tries to resist his transformation that ultimately his future is metal. As we've seen, metal (both as in tool form and machine form) is used throughout the movie to represent otherness. There's no use in resisting the metal anymore, the Salaryman can't no longer suppress his real self.
The Salaryman penetrates the Metal Fetishist with his drill but instead of killing the Metal Fetishist like it did his girlfriend, they become one single entity.
This reminds me of Naruto and Sasuke's final fight. Naruto is the only who can fight Sasuke, the only one who can take him. We literally see Sakura cry because she is unable to fight Sasuke and thus reach him. Sakura cannot take him.
The Salaryman and the Machine Fetishist's fight as well as Naruto and Sasuke's fight share some very obvious parallels like they both culminate with a bright explosion
Their fights are also obvious allegories to gay sex via the concepts sex is war and sex is eating as both pairs consume each other and it's only after their respective fights they're able to come to understand each other.
And what could be Kishimoto's inspiration for the iconic manga panel of Naruto and Sasuke's blood intertwined in what would've been their hands holding each other: The Salaryman and The Machine Fetishist arms fusioned together by metal as they float naked
Masashi Kishimoto just like Shinya Tsukamoto takes the physical representation of unity, conexion and bonds to the extreme during these moments of extreme intimacy and baring each other's soul to one another.
As a final parallel we get the Salaryman and the Machine Fetishist now bonded as a single entity (in the form of a phallic tank) where the final line is "You and me. Our love can put an end to this fucking world" which contrasts with Naruto and Sasuke's love having the ability to save the world, they could've destroyed it as much as they could've (and ultimately chose) to save it. A reconstructive havoc on an unjust world.
