Uzumaki uses its concept of a spiral curse to explore the anatomy of society—and its breakdown. The book explores what might happen socially, morally, and physically (in terms of the human body itself) in the event of societal collapse. Junji Ito uses horror-centric metaphors to explore real life horrors that could destroy humankind. Genre tropes such as body horror and monsters (zombies, vampires, and snails) are used to track Kurouzu-cho’s social, moral, and physical decay as well as those of the real world.

In the world of Uzumaki, the physical form reflects the emotional-moral self: As the residents of Kurouzu-cho grow increasingly immoral and obsessive, their bodies contort, transform, and decay. This idea is introduced through Mr. Saito; being the first to become obsessed with the spiral, his body is the first to undergo horrific change. Mr. Saito explicitly states the link between bodily form and inner obsession in Chapter 1: When Kirie Goshima goes to the Saitos’ house for dinner, it is revealed that Mrs. Saito threw out Mr. Saito’s spiral collection, and he shouts, “I don’t need to collect spirals anymore! I finally realized that you can make spirals yourself! You’ll see! You can express the spiral through your own body!” (29).