With the summer season about to come to an end and October just around the corner, the first anime of the fall season are starting to show up. And one of them is of course the newest season of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. I have heard people say online that part 7 of JoJo – Steel Ball Run – is Araki’s best work and I am very excited to talk about each and every episode as it airs, hopefully giving you all a nice recap of the episode and perhaps even make some wonderfully inaccurate predictions. The eagle-eyed among you may have already realized that this isn’t the first episode of Part 7, but instead the second episode, as the first episode aired many months ago. I didn’t cover the episode back then because it was only a single episode with no content for months, but now that it’s time to properly start the season, allow me to take you back to the beginning of Episode 1 and tell you everything you might have forgotten about. My thoughts on Episode 2 will follow somewhere in the next couple of days, while my thoughts on Episode 3 should be next Friday, after the episode has aired. Let’s get to it. Because this is a double episode and we are introduced to a bunch of characters all at once, I am going to try to keep it somewhat brief, but strap in for a long post. Just the introduction itself is already way too long.

In an alternate universe from the previous JoJo parts we find ourselves in the American frontier. This is the setting for a race across the continent. To be more specific, the 1890 Steel Ball Run from San Diego to New York. The race is a horseback race, but as we’ll see soon, cars, runners and other things have been allowed as well. It is in this setting we are introduced to some of – what seem to be – our primary competitors. Gyro Zeppeli seems to be a strange man with gold teeth and two spinning balls – no, not those – that give him a strange power to spin people’s limbs. Together with his horse Valkyrie he is signed up for the race after dealing with a thief. As we of course know, any character in JoJo’s worth their weight has aura, and Gyro definitely does.

Riding into the dispute between Gyro and the thief is who seems to be our main character, Johnny Joestar. Johnny witnesses Gyro use his power to make the thief shoot himself in the head. Johnny touches the still spinning ball to see what this power is all about and witnesses a miracle. As he touches the spinning ball, his legs suddenly move due to its power. Johnny begs the stranger to let him touch the ball again, but Gyro explains that the steel ball doesn’t work like that and it was only a muscle spasm. Despite Gyro’s very clear explanation, Johnny isn’t buying it. I can’t really blame him as the idea of being able to walk has to be pretty appealing for someone in a wheelchair like him. Johnny sets off to join the race as well. Johnny took up horse racing in earnest after his older brother tragically passed away and he had a real talent for it. This turned him into a real asshole and karma works fast. After getting shot for cutting in line he loses his ability to walk, his family’s respect and even the ability to relieve himself. He’s definitely more than paid for his behavior by this point and deserves a break. 

Let’s quickly name the characters that seem like they might be important. Some of them will undoubtedly end up being dropped early on, but since we have no way of knowing, let’s just go over them. The first one is a blonde haired man named Mountain Tim. We’re followed up by Dott Han, a Mongolian rider. If there’s anything the Mongols are known for, it’s their ability to travel large open plains. We also get budget Mumammad Avdul in Urmd Avdul. Likely an alternate universe descendant of the character we met in JoJo part 3, or just an excuse to use the name again. He’s riding a camel, because of course. And the British geezer expected to win it all, Diego Brando is also there. I wonder if he ends up being a villain or not, seeing his family’s alternative reality history. We also have the Native American runner, Sandman, as well as Gyro and Johnny. With the race finally starting can I just say that I’m really excited for this setting. Travelling across a continent on horses with just enough technology that there are cars, steam trains and hot air balloons accompanying the race makes for a very interesting mix of technology. There was a show with a similar plot a few years ago that I really enjoyed. It was called Appare-Ranman! If you like this setting, definitely check that one out.

And just like that, Urmd Avdul is already knocked out in the first stage. But he’s soon replaced by Pocoloco, a character who overslept on day 1. That’s how you know he’ll be important. Also, the car is already out. If Gyro’s power is his balls, then Dio’s power is knowing exactly what each horse’s specific traits are and using that to his advantage. Johnny isn’t far behind on his experienced horse. He’s not exactly in a winning position, but he is doing pretty well.
Meanwhile a bunch of riders have been tricked by our runner to go another direction. Being on foot, he can of course jump over the cliff, but a horse can’t make that jump. A human shouldn’t be able to do so either, but this is JoJo. Quick sidenote, but the old lady who did fortunetelling for Pocoloco is 100% modeled exactly after the woman in part 3. 

Back in the pack, Pocoloco and Johnny follow Gyro into the forest to take a shortcut. Gyro is using his talent to get through, but Pocoloco is relying solely on his good fortune to make it through while Johnny is coasting behind him. Despite getting taken out by a set of trees, Pocoloco manages to recover and get back on his horse. Going into the last stretch, we now have our top 3 with the rest following closely after. With the downhill section of the race taking out riders left and right, Johnny and Gyro are keeping afloat due to their skill and insight, meanwhile Pocoloco surfs down the hill on a cow’s carcass. Some people never struggle. I wonder if the voices he heard are in his head or something more. We haven’t seen anyone use any strange powers yet outside of Gyro and we also haven’t seen stands at all. I wonder if there are going to be any in this part or if Araki is swapping over to a new power system. During the downhill chaos, Sandman returns, running straight into the leading pack. This first part of the race is a short one, with only 17 minutes having passed before we reach the final turn. 3800 racers and the person in first is running on foot. 

Diego – who we’ll be calling Dio from now on – has been catching up by abusing the GTA-style draft speed, slowly going past each and every competitor until he’s near the front again. The main competitors seem to be these five: Pocoloco, Gyro, Johnny, Sandman and Dio. I’m curious if more of the unnamed racers will become important later on or if it’s just these five with newly introduced characters along the race. But that’s for later, now we watch five competitors race for the victory, but the one taking the win over everyone else is of course Gyro, using his balls to turn his cape into a sail that sails him over the finish line. With Gyro winning the bonus time and money from finishing first, we now have the first of nine legs done and it’s time to move on to the next episode, which aired today. Recap of that will be coming soon, so look forward to it but as always, thanks for reading!