I wasn’t planning to, i have a JoJo themed review coming next month, but i’m doing a quickie first impression piece now because despite the incredible success of the first episode of Steel Ball Run, that launched on the 19th on Netflix… there’s no simply no telling when the second one will drop, if it’s gonna have a weekly release or if they’re gonna drop it in batches like for Stone Ocean.
Hopefully an event meant tied to SBR taking place on the 28th should reveal that and these speculations will quickly become outdated, but i wouldn’t put it past Netflix to be idiots on this subject…. again.
Regardless, at least we have the first episode out, and they basically went for a big double sized episode to start things off, as most likely David Production didn’t knew what the hell the release schedule was gonna be like, and decided to at least deliver a sizeable debut episode to the fans as this did have a release date announced for certain.
In case you don’t know, this is Part 7 of the long running, beloved Jo Jo Bizarre Adventure series, though i can also be a perfect entry point if you are not caught up or completely new to Jo Jo, as – to put it spoiler free- Steel Ball Run is basically a fresh new start, with new characters and a new storyline unrelated to the previous 6 parts, so you don’t really need to know those to just follow the plot… and i will leave it at that, again, to avoid any spoilers.
Set in 1890’s America, the series is about the titular “Steel Ball Run” race, a massive coast-to-coast race starting in San Diego and ending in New York City, held by Steven Steel, with the prize of 50 milion dollars, which draws every professional horse jockeys and any kind of horse riding hick… though the horse isn’t a given as it’s basically a free for all and any vehicle is allowed.
Johnny Joestar, a jockey fallen from fame after an accident left him paralyzed and wheelchair bound, is determined to still try and enter the race, especially as he witnessed a strange man, Gyro Zeppeli, use some strange spinning steel spheres to fight, and after accidentally touching one while still spinning, he felt for a second like he could walk again, so incensed by this mysterious power more than the prize money or the glory, he manages to enter the Steel Ball Run in pursuit of Gyro….
While it does omits or removes some things, like the references to characters from the previous Jo Jo parts in the roster of racers partecipating, or most likely simply moved some introductory parts in the manga to avoid issues with the pacing, so for example we get a brief piece of Johnny’s backstory, Pocoloco’s introduction, but not the whole shebang of Sandman’s running tecnique (there a Native American/First Nation character, Sandman, that just fuckin runs as fast as horses), i’m assuming the episodes will eventually explain these when the story focuses on them proper, instead of just dumping a lot of lore and shit.
They also cleverly omitted how old Steven Steel’s wife, Lucy, actually is, which might sound kinda weasely, but i get why, the discussion would automatically become just THAT, i will just say Steven Steel will actually beat the allegations anyway once we get deep into the story. No joking, for real.
Back on track, yes, most of the changes – at least in this first maxi episode – are made decisedly to keep the focus on the race itself, to keep the pacing up, just explaining enough to set things up, they don’t even show Stands and how they work to this end, and it works, animation is quite good, not too fond of the 3D but could be far worse, and it’s not distracting, anyway. Music is top notch as always for Jo Jo’s anime series long-time composer Yugo Kanno.
It ends at the finale of the first stage of the race, leaving you wanting for more, which makes this situation of not even the series director (allegedly) aware of when more episodes will drop…. frustrating, to say the least, this is a great intro episode, no mistake about that.
Even so, if you were ever curious about Jo Jo in general or were frantically expecting to see Part 7 of Jo Jo finally animated, regardless i do recommend giving the first Steel Ball Run episode a watch.
Wise Cafe (International) 