A Review on Steel Ball Run

Written by: Serra Elayda (‘28)

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, a shonen manga series written by Hirohiko Araki that first came out on January 1, 1987, follows the adventures of the family members of the Joestar bloodline from generation to generation. Unique to other manga, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is divided into parts with a different plot and main Joestar for each one, ensuring that most people’s tastes in media will probably be touched on throughout the manga. For example in Part 1 Phantom Blood, we start with Johnathan Joestar, in which he and our other heroes fight vampires, and in Part 2 Battle Tendency, with whom we continue with his grandson, Joseph Joestar,  they fight the powerful pillarmen. From Part 1 to 2, Araki uses the power system called “Hamon” which is a fighting style controlled by regulated breathing, but then switches to the main power system which he would end up using for the rest of the continuing series, “Stands.” These “stands” are beings with different abilities that certain people possess which reflect their ‘fighting spirit’.  It currently has 8 parts finished, with the 9th part currently adding chapters monthly. Its 7th part, Steel Ball Run, is the most beloved installment by most fans, as reflected with its impressive standing in being the second most highest rated manga in the website MyAnimeList with an overall rating of 9.33. 

In Steel Ball Run, we are introduced to our main character, Johnny Joestar, who is a 19 year old horse jockey prodigy in America during the 1890s. He first starts as a very selfish and entitled man, especially with all the praise he got for his talent with horses, but his glamor would soon get stripped away when he gets shot in the spine and ultimately causes him to become paralyzed from the waist down. With this disability, he ends up losing his once glorious fame and career, but would soon become hopeful to restore what he once had after hearing about the upcoming “Steel Ball Run Race”. This race would start off from the San Diego Beach all the way to New York City, and ensure that its 1st place winner would be able to claim $50,000,000. After Johnny joins the race, he befriends another man named Gyro Zepelli who uses an unknown power to make the paralyzed Johnny stand for just a few seconds. When he asks Gyro about what exactly he has done to him, he learns that the power he used came from a technique called “Spin”, and he becomes determined to master the technique as well in order to make himself stand once more. The two would become partners as they race across America and encounter enemy Stand users who fight them to the death to get to the finish line and for the mysterious “Corpse Parts” that it seems lots of others are more preoccupied with finding during their race. Our characters try their best to determine exactly what are the “Corpse Parts” while they fend for their lives as they work for their dreams to reach the finish line. 

Steel Ball Run deserves all the love that it gets– it’s action packed, has well written characters, and the mysterious aspect of the “Corpse Parts” is very interesting. We watch Johnny evolve throughout his journey by becoming more hopeful and determined in finding a way to achieve his goals, including being able to walk again. Steel Ball Run is unlike any other manga with Araki’s special writing style, which immediately intrigues the reader to keep reading. The world that he creates and its power system of Stands makes a world that can seem to have many different possibilities in interactions and battles with how well thought characters’ abilities are to be able to reflect their personalities and not stand in as your simple average “superpowers”. 

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is a wonderful manga and anime in general, and is beloved by many fans. With the Steel Ball Run anime coming on March 19, 2026, everyone is up on their feet in excitement for the expected bizarre adventure that will soon be playing on our screens.