Overview
Steel Ball Run is the seventh part of Hirohiko Araki's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga, adapted into anime by David Production and released exclusively on Netflix in a series of “stages”. The setting is America in 1890, where a transcontinental horse race of roughly 4,000 miles draws riders from everywhere. Johnny Joestar, a former jockey prodigy who lost the use of his legs, sees a chance of recovery in Gyro Zeppeli's mysterious Spin technique and decides to follow him along the course.
OtaHub's take
The 1st STAGE premiered on 19 March 2026 as a 47-minute special that sets up Johnny's motives, the principle of the Spin and the rules of the race. From 25 September 2026 the 2nd and 3rd STAGE follow with 11 episodes in total, released every Friday instead of all at once. Splitting the show into stages mirrors the race structure of the original, gives each release its own climax and moves Mountain Tim, Hot Pants and Funny Valentine into more prominent roles.
The franchise's familiar team returns: Toshiyuki Kato is chief director, Hideya Takahashi and Yasuhiro Kimura co-direct, Yasuko Kobayashi handles series composition, Daisuke Tsumagari designs the characters and Yugo Kanno composes the score. Shogo Sakata voices Johnny and Yohei Azakami plays Gyro. The adaptation only covers part of a long story, so the 11 episodes of the two new stages are not the whole of Steel Ball Run.
Verdict
Steel Ball Run works for long-time JoJo fans and newcomers alike, since this part opens a rebooted universe and does not require knowledge of the earlier story. Viewers should start with the 1st STAGE, because that special holds most of the context needed to follow the later stages. The weekly schedule also suits viewers who prefer to keep up steadily rather than binge everything at once.
