Volume VI Special Issue II February 2026

Name of Author : Hasna P, Dr. N. S. Vishnu Priya

Title of the paper : Thing Power and Matter Horror: A New Materialist Reading of Junji Itos Select Manga

Abstract: Junji Ito is known as a master of horror manga and is celebrated for narratives that disturb conventional understanding of the body, nature and the human world. This paper analyses Uzumaki, The Enigma of Amigara Fault, and Glyceride using ideas from new materialism, especially Jane Bennetts concept of vibrant matter and thing power to discuss matter horror. In Itos works, horror and fear arise not in a conventional way but from the agency of inanimate objects. Through a close reading of the selected manga, the paper argues that Ito portrays a world in which human beings are not in the control of the world. His manga challenges the anthropocentric world views by presenting matter or inanimate objects as active, powerful and unpredictable. His horror presents a world where power moves away from humans towards non living objects, creating a new politics of power in which human authority is no longer secure. Itos stories can be interpreted as an example of a lively unpredictable material world in which human beings have an uncertain place.

Keywords : Vibrant materialism, Matter horror, Non human agency, Thing power, New Materialism

DOI :

Page Number : 71-74