The seventh installment of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Steel Ball Run, has recently been added to Netflix, and many fans are eager to watch the new episode. Steel Ball Run was released March 19. With the first episode named “1st Stage,” many fans speculate that the title hints at weekly installments we had seen in previous seasons. Yet, there is no episode release schedule marked out. SBR was released on Netflix and animated by David Productions. All seasons of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure had been animated by David Productions, yet this is the second time they partnered with Netflix to release this series. December 2021 marked the release of Stone Ocean, the sixth installment which marked the debut of the collaboration between David Productions and Netflix.
Steel Ball Run is set in the 1900s in the United States. Its an action packed story about a cross country race from San Diego to New York by horseback, to win a 50 million dollar prize. There are several characters within this season. We have our main team consisting of our JoJo of this part, our main character Johnny Joestar and then we also meet a strange man who we don’t know much about in the first episode, named Gyro Zeppili. More of the main cast comes in later along the race, but we do get to see early interactions between Johnny and Gyro which really helps to set the scene and build suspense. We first see them together when Gyro gets into a street fight, Gyro uses one of his metal balls and throws it at him. Gyro has a special ability to make the balls spin at very high speeds, granting it even more special abilities which we later see in the episode and series. After Gyro wins, Johnny touches that ball and feels the spin but also is able to stand. Johnny had been paralyzed due to a horseracing accident, and after this interaction he is determined to walk again by learning the spin.
We also met other contestants in the race such a man named Pocoloco and another named Sandman who plans to run the race. They also have special abilities. It was interesting to see how they showed them within the first episode, as they were implied but not outright shown. Stands are a supernatural power or ability manifested as a physical entity bound to its user. We do not outright see any of their stands but we see their abilities at work. We don’t see the true awakening of these abilities until later in the series, most likely we will see them in the next episode as the race continues. We do hear Pocoloco’s stand in the first episode giving him advice. It was also great to see how they executed the concept of the “Spin”, this is the source of Gyro’s Power. It seemed very mysterious and that’s how it was in the manga, it’s never really truly explained and that helps drive the plot as more abilities and powers can diverge from this concept of making things spin really fast harnessing their rotational energy. We see it being used in many different ways and it was really cool to see how that was shown in the first episode.
The first episode of the seventh installment of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure was amazing to see and many fans are eager to see the new episode hopefully coming out soon. It was great to see how the new story progresses and moves forward as we progress through the Steel Ball Run race, Johnny and Gyro’s friendship and Johnny’s growth and journey on how to walk again. This part has themes of personal growth, through Johnny’s determination to walk again in the physical but also metaphorical aspect. This series is a great story full of adventure and great character and a very interesting power system filled with bizarre abilities. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a great series to get into and a story that has kept fans entranced for many years.
