History Film / TetsuoTheIronMan

* {{Kaiju}}: [[spoiler: Anthony's final form in ''The Bullet Man'' could qualify as this, being massive in scale and having the power to destroy much of Tokyo. Unfortunately the [[JitterCam cinematography]] makes it quite difficult to get a good look at what the kaiju in question actually looks like.]]

* LeFilmArtistique: The first film is in black and white, they all have small budgets, they use unusual film techniques and the plots of all of them are full of MindScrew and [[EpilepticTrees are very open to interpretation]], [[WidgetSeries if we add that the movies are Japanese]] the series fit the trope perfectly.

* WidgetSeries: A very weird series of art films.

* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: ''The Bullet Man'''s dialogue certainly counts. It helped that the script is translated from Japanese, not to mention this being (so far) the only film to feature Americans.

* DeathBySex: See below.

->''"Our love can put an end to this'' fucking ''world!"''
-->--'''The Metal Fetishist'''

%%* ActionizedSequel: Both ''Body Hammer'' and ''The Bullet Man''.

* AllJustADream: The main character has a dream that his girlfriend turns into a machine-woman with a metallic probe that seems to be made from a vaccum cleaner. She then proceeds to rape him with it... and yes, it is every bit as disturbing as it sounds.

** This is followed up in the sequel, as Tomoo, while he intends to stop the Metal Fetishist and avenge his child, clearly isn't in a good state of mind, suffering bouts of psychotic fury, complete with SlasherSmile. It's also revealed that [[spoiler: he was the one who killed his father, not the Metal Fetishist. Although not without good reason]]

* FanDisservice: The EroticEating scene juxtaposed with metallic screeching noises was definitely not meant to be sexy.
* FreudianExcuse: Several flashbacks from the Metal Fetishist's POV imply he's such a twisted, depraved fanatic because a piece of metal was lodged in his head since childhood, ''beaten into him'' by a cruel vagrant, leading him to develop an unhealthy sadomasochistic obsession with the element as it transformed him physically and mentally. Then these two jerks run him over and ''screw over his still conscious body.'' You can imagine his mind isn't in the right place after all that.

* GratuitousEnglish: [[http://www.onzi-eme.com/img/event/455_1.jpg This]] ''The Bullet Man'' poster's {{tagline}} says "DESTROY WORLD". While the movie itself is in English, the Metal Fetishist shouts out some very Engrish-y terms like "COME ON COWBOY!"

* HumanWeapon: [[spoiler:Both Tomoo and the Metal Fetishist in ''Body Hammer''.]]

* LeFilmArtistique: The movies are black and white (except the sequels), has a small budget, uses unusual film techniques and the plot is full of MindScrew and [[EpilepticTrees very open to interpretation]], [[WidgetSeries if we add that the movies are Japanese]] the series fit the trope perfectly.
* LipstickAndLoadMontage: The antagonist is shown [[ExpositoryHairstyleChange changing his hairstyle]], painting his lips, and [[FacialMarkings putting on eye makeup]] before his confrontation with the protagonist.

* NoNameGiven: In ''The Iron Man'', nobody is actually named. The Metal Fetishist is commonly known as Yatsu but that's not a name but instead Japanese for "guy".

** The first film ends with [[spoiler:the Salaryman absorbing the Metal Fetishist into his body. They make peace with each other as they're reborn inside their metal cocoon, their arms connected by an umbilical cord, and emerge fused into a giant metal penis, vowing to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9P-t8VX6Pw use their combined power to destroy the world]].]]

* ArmCannon: The second and third movies show that murderous intent seems to manifest this (among other things) if the hate behind it is strong enough. [[spoiler: In reality, people who are capable of this were actually part of an experiment to create humans who could become living weapons.]]

* PhallicWeapon: There is a lot of phallic imagery in ''The Iron Man'', usually associated with pain: the Salaryman's penis turns into a drill, a young Metal Fetishist was assaulted by a hobo who pulled a metal rod from out of his crotch and [[spoiler:the metal monster the two fuse into in the end is just straight up a penis]].

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:While mutating everyone and everything into metal is ''not'' the way to cope, the Metal Fetishist's own situation is pretty horrible. He suffered a brutal beating as a child that fused metal to his cells, gradually consuming his mind, and lived a pitiful existence as an insane vagrant before he was run over. He's in a great amount of physical and psychological pain, and it's implied his torment of the Salaryman is out of a need to share that pain with someone. The later films seem to drop this aspect however, as he's [[TookALevelInJerkass far more malicious]] while also being more lucid, yet still sociopathic.]]

** This is followed up in the sequel, as Tomoo, while he intends to stop the Fetishist and avenge his child, clearly isn't in a good state of mind, suffering bouts of psychotic fury, complete with SlasherSmile. It's also revealed that [[spoiler: he was the one who killed his father, not the Metal Fetishist. Although not without good reason]]

* DepravedHomosexual: The Fetishist may very well be this, as he's obsessed to terrifying extremes with the protagonist, and [[spoiler:is willing to destroy the entire world with their "love".]] [[spoiler:The Salaryman is one too by the end, if you follow the interpretation that the story is largely about him realizing he's gay.]]

* StrawNihilist: [[spoiler:The Salaryman and the Fetishist turn into this by the end, deciding to team up to turn the entire world into metal. Probably a result of SanitySlippage induced by their brains turning to metal.]]

* AdaptationalJerkass: It is implied, but not confirmed, that the couple in The Phantom of Regular Size had the decency to send the Metal Fetishist to the hospital unlike their counterparts in The Iron Man.
* AllThereInTheManual: Unlike the sequels, ''The Iron Man'' doesn't explain why or how the Metal Fetishist has powers over metal; its predecessor "The Phantom of Regular Size" gave a possible answer in that metal from the car collision have embedded into his body, the thought of dying caused his cells to mutate with the metal and helped him develop psychic powers. Although the trailer did mention psychic powers, it was not mentioned in the movie.
* AmbiguouslyGay: The imagery throughout ''The Iron Man'' ''strongly'' suggests that the Salaryman is experiencing an LGBTAwakening over the course of the movie, culminating in [[spoiler:his and the Metal Fetishist's naked bodies embracing, followed by their reemergence fused into a giant penis]].

* {{Remake}}: Of Tsukamoto's first film, ''The Phantom of Regular Size''.

* AbandonedWarehouse: The final confrontation between the salaryman and the Metal Fetishist in the first film takes place in one of these.

* AdaptationalJerkass: It is implied, but not confirmed, that the couple in Phantom in Regular Size had the decency to send Yatsu to the hospital unlike their counterparts in The Iron Man.
* AllThereInTheManual: Unlike the sequels, The Iron Man doesn't explain why or how Yatsu has powers over metal; its predecessor "The Phantom of Regular Size" gave a possible answer in that metal from the car collision have embedded into Yatsu's body, the thought of dying caused his cells to mutate with the metal and helped him develop psychic powers. Although the trailer did mention psychic powers, it was not mentioned in the movie.

* BaldOfEvil: ''Body Hammer'' features a whole gang of 'em, working for both Yatsu[=/=]The Guy[=/=]The Metal Fetishist and a MadScientist.
* BigBad: Yatsu, the Metal Fetishist who started the Salaryman's transformation.

** This is followed up in the sequel, as Tomoo, while he intends to stop the Fetishist and avenge his child, clearly isn't in a good state of mind, suffering bouts of psychotic fury, complete with SlasherSmile. It's also revealed that [[spoiler: he was the one who killed his father, not Yatsu. Although not without good reason]]

* DepravedHomosexual: The Fetishist may very well be this, as he's obsessed to terrifying extremes with the protagonist, and [[spoiler:is willing to destroy the entire world with their "love."]]
* DrivenToSuicide: In ''The Bullet Man'', [[spoiler:Anthony]] attempts this. [[spoiler:It doesn't work]].

* EroticEating: The salaryman cooks and feeds dinner for his girlfriend and as he's doing this, he hears [[FanDisservice metallic noises]].
* ExtraOreDinary: The Fetishist seems to have power over metal, not just an ability to produce it from his own body. The Salaryman seems to discover this power too, and even briefly turn the tables on the Fetishist ([[MindScrew it's hard to say for sure]]).

* FreudianExcuse: Several flashbacks from Yatsu's POV imply he's such a twisted, depraved fanatic because a piece of metal was lodged in his head since childhood, ''beaten into him'' by a cruel vagrant, leading him to develop an unhealthy sadomasochistic obsession with the element as it transformed him physically and mentally. Then these two jerks run him over and ''make out over his still conscious body.'' You can imagine his mind isn't in the right place after all that.
* FingerFirearms: Yatsu possesses one in ''Body Hammer''.

** The first film ends with [[spoiler:the Salaryman absorbing the Metal Fetishist into his body. They seemingly make peace with each other inside their metal cocoon, and emerge fused into a giant metal penis, vowing to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9P-t8VX6Pw use their combined power to destroy the world]].]]
** ''Body Hammer'' ends with [[spoiler:Tomoo (the Salaryman) walking with his family through a ruined city.]]

* GratuitousEnglish: [[http://www.onzi-eme.com/img/event/455_1.jpg This]] ''Bullet Man'' poster's {{tagline}} says "DESTROY WORLD".
** While the movie is in English, Yatsu shouts out some very Engrish-y terms like "COME ON COWBOY!"

* HumanWeapon: [[spoiler:Both the Salaryman and Yatsu in ''Body Hammer''.]]

* IHaveYourWife: The bad guys kidnap the salaryman's son (and later his wife) in ''Body Hammer''.

* KickTheDog: Yatsu transforms the Salaryman's cat into a living metal sculpture that's [[AndIMustScream desperately trying to move]].

* MadScientist: A character simply named "Mad Scientist" appears in ''Body Hammer''. Yatsu himself is apparently one in ''The Bullet Man''.
* MechanicalAbomination: The main antagonist of the series, the Metal Fetishist, has an unhealthy sadomasochistic obsession with the element of metal due to having a piece of metal lodged into his head in his childhood. In addition, he has the ability to [[ExtraOreDinary control metal and produce it from his body]], and forces the protagonist to transform into a walking heap of scrap metal. [[spoiler:By the end of the first movie, both he and the protagonist have [[FusionDance fused]] into a giant penis-shaped ''thing'', and decide to team up to [[OmnicidalManiac turn the entire world into metal]].]]

* MythologyGag: Anthony in The Bullet Man does the same frenzied "dance" the Salaryman did in The Iron Man.
* NightmareFetishist: The antagonist is called "The Metal Fetishist". When he was alive, he enjoyed shoving bits of metal into his body.
** After the main characters run over him, the protagonist's girlfriend gets aroused. She later gets aroused when she [[spoiler: shoves a knife into the main character's neck in hopes of killing him.]]
*** [[spoiler:[[GroinAttack She didn't stab his neck first...]]]]
* NoNameGiven: In the first movie, nobody is actually named. The Metal Fetishist is commonly known as Yatsu but that's not a name but instead Japanese for "guy".

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: His dead girlfriend is briefly brought back due to the antagonist's manipulation. [[spoiler: Then he teleports out of her somehow.]]
** The woman who chases the protagonist on the subway seemed like one as well. In fact, since the antagonist dies, comes back, and infects the protagonist, one could almost see this as some crazy zombie flick.
* PhallicWeapon: There is a lot of phallic imagery in the first movie and they tend to be associated with pain: Salaryman's penis turns into a drill, a young Yatsu was assaulted by a man who pulled a metal rod from out of his crotch and the metal monster in the end looks like a penis.
* PrimalFear: The final battle of ''Bullet Man'' takes place in a crevice barely wide enough to turn around in, not to mention the other instances of claustrophobia in it.

* StrawNihilist: [[spoiler:The salaryman and the Fetishist turn into this by the end, deciding to team up to turn the entire world into metal. Probably a result of SanitySlippage induced by their brains turning to metal.]]

* {{Synchronization}}: When Yatsu possess the lady with glasses, he can feel the pain she would have felt. Not that it stops him anyway.
* TakeAThirdOption: In ''The Bullet Man'', [[spoiler:Yatsu[=/=]The Metal Fetishist [[IHaveYourWife plants a bomb on Yuriko's necklace]]. He gives Anthony two choices: kill him or let her die. Anthony, realizing that either choices will drive him into destroying the world, ''forcefully absorbs'' Yatsu [[AndIMustScream into his body]], reverting him back to human form.]]
* TankGoodness: [[spoiler:Towards the end of ''Body Hammer'', Tomoo, Yatsu, and the skinheads join together to form a giant tank-like thing]].

* ThematicSeries: The movies all tell their own stories, but share several elements, including a saleryman turning into metal after encountering Yatsu, the metal fetishist; people turning into weapons and all end with [[spoiler: the saleryman fusing with Yatsu, for better or for worse]].

* UnreadablyFastText: Yatsu's slideshow in ''The Bullet Man''.
* UnstoppableRage: Anthony starts the events of ''The Bullet Man'' relatively calm and collected. However, when he starts to transform.... Ho boy.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: On closer inspection, the salaryman has two cats but we only one of them [[spoiler: turn into metal]].

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:In ''The Bullet Man'', Yatsu[=/=]The Metal Fetishist pulls this on both his {{mooks}} and the [[PrivateMilitaryCompany PMC]] pursuing Dr. Ride]].

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: While mutating everyone and everything into metal is ''not'' the way to cope, Yatsu's own situation is pretty horrible. He suffered a brutal beating as a child that fused metal to his cells, gradually consuming his mind, and lived a pitiful existence as an insane vagrant before he was run over. He's in a great amount of physical and psychological pain, and it's implied his torment of the salaryman is out of a need to share that pain with someone. The later films seem to drop this aspect however, as he's [[TookALevelInJerkass far more malicious]] while also being more lucid, yet still sociopathic.
* WorldOfSymbolism: Some say the movie is about modern humanity's overdependance on machines. Others think it is a metaphor for homosexual awakening. There are probably many more theories out there.

%%* ActionizedSequel: Both ''2'' and ''The Bullet Man'', according to WordOfGod.

* BaldOfEvil: ''2'' features a whole gang of 'em, working for both Yatsu[=/=]The Guy[=/=]The Metal Fetishist and a MadScientist.

* DownerEnding: The first film. [[spoiler:The protagonist and antagonist merge together to form one organism and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9P-t8VX6Pw they will use their combined power to destroy the world, due to the last lines of the film]]. Also, for the Salaryman, he seems to have become fully submissive and under the control of the Metal Fetishist (although he may just be pretending to act like that just to avoid more pain).]]

* GainaxEnding: ''2'' ends with [[spoiler:Tomoo (the Salaryman) walking with his family through a ruined city.]]

* HumanWeapon: [[spoiler:Both the Salaryman and Yatsu in ''2''.]]

* MechanicalAbomination: The main antagonist of the series, the Metal Fetishist, has an unhealthy sadomasochistic obsession with the element of metal due to having a piece of metal lodged into his head in his childhood. In addition, he has the ability to [[ExtraOreDinary control metal and produce it from his body]], and forces the protagonist to transform into a walking heap of scrap metal. [[spoiler:By the end of the first movie, both he and the protagonist have [[FusionDance fused]] into a giant [[TankGoodness tank-like]] ''thing'', and decide to team up to [[OmnicidalManiac turn the entire world into metal]].]]

* ActionizedSequel: Both ''2'' and ''The Bullet Man'', according to WordOfGod.

It follows the tale of a man who, after hitting a metal fetishist with his car, attempts to hide the mess by dumping the body into a ravine. To his dismay, he finds that the dead man is getting his revenge - by forcing the driver to transform into a walking heap of scrap metal.

* HumanoidAbomination: Of the [[MechanicalAbomination mechanical]] kind

%% JitterCam: A common criticism against ''The Bullet Man''.
* {{Kaiju}}: [[spoiler: Anthony's final form ''The Bullet Man'' could qualify as this, being massive in scale and having the power to destroy much of Tokyo. Unfortunately the [[JitterCam cinematography]] makes it quite difficult to get a good look at what the kaiju in question actually looks like.]]

%% {{Salaryman}}

%% SurrealHorror

** [[spoiler:Anthony and his son(s)]] in ''The Bullet Man''. [[spoiler:Turns out Dr. Ride (his father) created a [[TitleDrop Tetsuo]] replica of his dying wife. Then, he inseminates it, resulting with Anthony]].

* CyberPunk

* PhallicWeapon: There is a lot of phallic imagery in the first movie: Salaryman's penis turns into a drill, a young Yatsu was assaulted by a man who pulled a metal rod from out of his crotch and the metal monster in the end looks like a penis.