JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run

Steel Ball Run is the seventh story arc of the Japanese manga series JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. Set in 1890, it stars Johnny Joestar, a paraplegic former jockey who desires to regain the use of his legs, and Gyro Zeppeli, a disgraced former executioner who seeks to win amnesty for a child on death row. They, along with others, compete in the titular cross-continental race for $50 million, but the race has a hidden agenda behind it. Originally the first 23 chapters (4 volumes) were serialized in 2004 simply under the title Steel Ball Run. Although the character's names are obviously related to the series, it was unclear if the story was a part of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. However, when the series moved to Ultra Jump in 2005, it was officially announced as part 7 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, but in an alternate universe, like the following and current arc, JoJolion. The 95 chapters were combined into 24 tankobon volumes (volumes 81–104 of the entire series), following the trend set by the previous part, Stone Ocean, of starting over the volume count. A couple of chapters were adapted into a "Vomic" series, which has voice actors act over the manga pages as they are shown on screen.

Plot
The series is set in 1890 in an alternate reality from all previous JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure parts, where racing jockeys from all over the world flock to the United States to take part in the titular Steel Ball Run- a cross-country horse race from San Diego to New York City with a prize of fifty million dollars. Johnny Joestar (a counterpart to the character Jonathan Joestar, protagonist of Part 1), a former jockey who fell from glory after a shooter paralyzed him from the waist down, enters the race after meeting the mysterious Gyro Zeppeli (a counterpart to the characters of Will Zeppeli and his grandson Caesar, major allies in the first two Parts) to learn the secrets of the man's Spin technique, which temporarily restored Johnny's mobility. While beginning as rivals, Johnny and Gyro become friends as they travel through the wilderness while fending off violent competitors.

As Gyro begins teaching Johnny the secrets of the Spin, his own background is explored through flashbacks. He is a former executioner from Naples who is competing in the Steel Ball Run, not for his own gain but to win the favor of the Neapolitan royalty and thus prevent the unjust execution of a young boy, Marco, who has been falsely accused of treason. The two continue their progression through the race, all the while being attacked by various assassins, terrorists, and outlaws.

Although the Steel Ball Run is organized by the eccentric oil tycoon Stephen Steel, it is revealed that the race is backed by the United States government. Steel is unaware of the actual agenda of the 23rd President of the United States, Funny Valentine: the race is a means for Valentine to collect the scattered pieces of a two-thousand-year-old corpse known as the Saint's Corpse (heavily implied to be the body of Jesus Christ, brought to America by Joseph of Arimathea) so he can use the reassembled body to achieve incredible power. Stephen's wife Lucy discovers this plot and finds out that Valentine already possesses one part of the Corpse, the heart.

After Johnny and Gyro encounter another piece of the Saint's Corpse, it is absorbed into Johnny's body and he develops the evolving Stand Tusk, allowing him to fend off one of Valentine's minions. Later, they meet the mysterious racer Diego Brando (a counterpart to the character Dio Brando, the overarching antagonist of Parts 1-6), who obtains one of two Corpse eyes, while Gyro gains the other. Lucy intercepts a message to Valentine about the Corpse parts, making her a target for his men. She manages to escape him and finds one of the parts with Johnny and Gyro's help. With the information provided by Lucy, Johnny and Gyro decide to search for the next three Corpse parts while sending Lucy, with the advantage of Gyro's Corpse eye, to take the Heart from Valentine himself. Meanwhile, Diego makes a deal with Valentine to help him deal with the traitor (who Valentine does not know is Lucy). Partnered with another racer, Diego attacks Johnny and Gyro. Gyro teaches Johnny how to use the Golden Ratio found in nature to amplify the power of the Spin, which evolves his Stand and allows him to defeat the other racer with this technique, but Diego escapes and all but one of the Corpse parts are stolen by another racer, Hot Pants.

Johnny and Gyro are next forced to deal with a Stand based on the fable of The Honest Woodman by Aesop, which grants them a considerable fortune alongside another Corpse part but forces them to get rid of both before sunrise or else they will be trapped within an ancient tree forever and become the new users of the Stand, making the same deal with passersby. The duo spends the money hiring a mercenary force to fend off Valentine's henchmen, but Gyro is nearly lost forever until Johnny trades away the Corpse parts to the last survivor of Valentine's forces, saving Gyro's life but leaving them with nothing. Lucy uses Hot Pants' Stand to disguise herself as Valentine's wife Scarlet, while Hot Pants steals several Corpse parts from Valentine, including the Heart.

Johnny and Gyro are led to a garbage dump by Hot Pants, only for all three to be nearly defeated by one of Valentine's men, who takes all of the parts they have collected. With the help of a vision of the Saint, Johnny's Stand develops new powers in combination with the Spin. Before he can win the battle, however, Valentine arrives and kills his own minion, then leaves along with all the Corpse parts except for the undiscovered head and the eyes possessed by Diego and Lucy. Upon returning to the Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Valentine uncovers Lucy's disguise and takes her captive after she fuses with the Corpse and seemingly becomes pregnant with the Corpse's head. Lucy escapes from captivity, only to be lured into Valentine's clutches once again. Diego and Hot Pants ally against Valentine, chasing him and Lucy to a trainyard while being followed by Johnny and Gyro. Diego and Hot Pants fight Valentine on the moving train but his Stand “D4C” (Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap) allows for multiple universes to exist simultaneously. Valentine's Stand proves to be far too dangerous as Diego is lured to his death after Valentine pulls him under the moving train, bisecting him. However, Valentine is forced to transfer his soul into an alternate universe's Valentine to survive the fight (as Diego does not see the results of the transfer, he dies with the false belief that he has killed Valentine). Hot Pants is killed when space-time distortions cause multiple solid objects to converge with her heart, instantly killing her. Lucy begins to metamorphose into a being resembling the Saint's Corpse. This grants Valentine even further powers in the form of an ability for D4C called Love Train, a dimensional wall of light that redirects all harm away from Valentine and randomly redistributes it as misfortune across the world.

Johnny and Gyro arrive and attempt to battle the seemingly invulnerable Valentine. Johnny is momentarily incapacitated as Gyro and Valentine take their fight towards the Atlantic Ocean, with Gyro unlocking his stand “Ball Breaker” utilizing the Golden Spin and the Steel Balls. Gyro passes Johnny a cryptic hint regarding The Golden Spin, a form of spin utilizing gravity. Although Ball Breaker can pass through Love Train and greatly damage Valentine, the President survives Ball Breaker’s second attack through sheer luck- the Steel Ball thrown at him lost a fraction of its mass when passing through Love Train, making the Steel Ball an ellipse and ruining the Golden Ratio Gyro needed to throw the Ball in to instantly kill Valentine. His last attack a failure, Gyro falls from his horse and dies after multiple wounds travel towards his heart. Mourning his mentor and friend, Johnny understands Gyro’s hint and achieves the Golden Spin, unlocking Tusk ACT 4, which allows Johnny to mark objects or beings with infinite rotation. Valentine is horrified as Tusk ACT 4's attack can breach his dimensional wall and mark D4C with infinite rotation. Pursued by infinite rotation regardless of which dimension he travels to, Valentine is forced to surrender and attempts to make a deal with Johnny, offering to resurrect Gyro by finding a version of him in another universe in exchange for the Corpse. Johnny nearly agrees but realizes that this is a trick after he notices Valentine holding a gun taken from another universe, which he intended to kill Johnny with if he let his guard down. Johnny finally kills Valentine in a fierce standoff and sees Gyro's spirit one last time.

The Holy Corpse separates from Lucy, only to be stolen by an unknown antagonist. Pursuing the thief into the final stage of the Steel Ball Run, Johnny is shocked to find that it is an alternate version of Diego Brando, taken from a different universe by Valentine and entrusted with the Corpse. Unlike the previous Diego, this one is more megalomaniacal, and possesses the time-stopping Stand of Dio Brando, THE WORLD. A flashback reveals that Valentine has educated Alternate Diego on the dangers of Tusk ACT 4 and a battle on the streets of New York begins. Alternate Diego can stop time for Johnny utilizing THE WORLD, however, Tusk ACT 4 is shown to be able to slightly mitigate the time stop by the use of gravity. Alternate Diego eventually outsmarts Johnny by weaponizing Tusk ACT 4's own Golden Spin against it. THE WORLD is attacked by ACT 4, but Diego uses his stand to sever his leg which was attacked by the infinite rotation, and redirects it at Johnny. Overwhelmed by his own Stand's infinite rotatio, Johnny begins to die, and Alternate Diego then goes on to win the race in first place. He brings the Corpse to Trinity Church, where Valentine intended to lock it in a vault so that its powers would protect America forever. At the last moment, Lucy arrives with the severed head of the root world's Diego. Terrified, Alternate Diego stops time with THE WORLD but is unable to crawl up the stairs with his missing leg and accidentally comes into contact with the root world Diego's head. Since parallel instances of the same person cannot come into contact without destroying each other, Alternate Diego fuses with the original Diego's head, instantly killing him and his Stand.

With both Diego's dead and thus unable to claim the prize, first place is awarded to the carefree Pocoloco, who had slept through the start of the race and only caught up by sheer luck. Stephen Steel arrives to save Johnny, who can reverse the infinite rotation with his Stand after being assisted onto a horse. Valentine's death is covered up as retirement from public life, with concerns over the race placated by the donation of the prize money to charitable causes. Johnny, having regained his ability to walk through the power of his Stand and the Spin, leaves America to return Gyro's body to his family. On the boat, he meets the runner-up in the Steel Ball Run, Japanese racer Norisuke Higashikata. Johnny later marries Norisuke's daughter Rina, leading to the events of Part 8, JoJolion.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) A great and original premise for the JoJo series as it is about a continental horse race.
 * 2) Tons of likable and memorable characters like Gyro Zeppeli, Johnny Joestar, Funny Valentine, Diego Brando, Lucy Steel, Hot Pants, etc
 * 3) * Gyro Zeppeli is an interesting character with good motivations on why he wants to win the Steel Ball Run race. He wants to help a boy who is going to be executed and he needs the money to win the favor and prevent the execution. It was also nice seeing his motivations change from saving the boy to finding the corpse parts.
 * 4) * Johnny Joestar is the most well-developed character in the ENTIRE SERIES. As he goes from “less than zero” to a man who starts to walk again. Johnny's backstory is very deep and we get a real sense of where his motivations and characteristics stem from. We see flashbacks of his jockeying, cause of cripple, loss of his brother and the complications with his family. His ambition to gather the corpse parts and his strong friendship with Gyro is excellent. Johnny Joestar is by far one of the most diligent, determined and developed Jojos of the series. His stand Tusk is a symbolism of Johnny’s development throughout the part, learning cool abilities such as the spatial wormhole, black-hole creation and the achievement of the infinite-spin.
 * 5) * Funny Valentine is said to be one of the best villains in all of JoJo due to his motivations, which carries intense patriotism and pride for his country. He is a ruthless, but convicted man that acts accordingly for the greater good of his people and portrays characteristics of leadership and an equal amount of determination to the duo. He is an outstanding villain and is a great threat to the duo. We get to also see through his childhood backstory, where we initially see one of the crucial moments that develop his patriotic nature.
 * 6) * Diego Brando is also a unique secondary villain and (depending on your opinion)is more interesting than Dio. Diego had more reasonable motivations for climbing on top of society, which is revealed in his backstory suffering from being stuck in the lower class of his hierarchy.
 * 7) The stands in this part are pretty unique, such as Tusk act 1-4 and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap(D4C)/D4C Love Train
 * 8) It has great continuation from the previous part Stone Ocean, as the story's setting is set in an alternate universe.
 * 9) As with every JoJo part, the manga's art style and drawings are beautiful and cool to look at.
 * 10) Spin feels like a better and more constructed version of Hamon.
 * 11) * Spin actually feels like it has its own limits on what it can do whereas Hamon can just do whatever it wants.
 * 12) * Spin is also a unique fighting style, unlike Hamon which feels like a blatant rip-off of Nen Aura from HxH.
 * 13) There are many great and entertaining fights in this part such as Diego Brando vs Funny Valentine, Johnny and Gyro vs Funny Valentine, Diego Brando(alternative universe) vs Johnny Joestar and Lucy Steel, Diego Brando and Hot Pants vs Funny Valentine, Ringo Roadagain vs Gyro Zeppeli.
 * 14) A heartwarming and powerful moment with Johnny and Gyro on Sugar Mountain.
 * 15) The western genre also feels nice for this part along with the transfer to seinen was great.
 * 16) Arigato... Gyro...
 * 17) Poignant moments such as the deaths of Gyro Zeppeli and Mountain Tim.
 * 18) The friendship between both Gyro and Johnny is well developed and fun to see. The interactions between the two are great and memorable as well an example of this would be when Gyro showed Johnny his song Pizza Mozerella.
 * 19) A nice little reference to part 3 Stardust Crusaders where there is an alternative version of Diego Brando with The World.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) While there are many good characters there are some unlikable or annoying ones too like Pocoloco and his stand Hey Ya!
 * 2) While this could be another “Araki Forgot” moment, the kid Gyro was trying to save just died from his sickness which makes Gyro’s motivations for winning the race seem pointless.
 * 3) * On top of this there are also some other “Araki Forgot” moments like how Johnny can shoot nail bullets from his toes and how Diego only used Scary Monsters two times for the entirety of the manga.
 * 4) ** However the plot holes/"Araki Forgot" moments don't really stand out or affect the plot as a whole unlike in previous parts.

Reception
Kono Manga ga Sugoi! recommended Steel Ball Run as a good place to start for people who have not read previous parts, due to how it serves as a reboot of the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure series, and appreciated how its move to the monthly seinen magazine Ultra Jump enabled Araki to write longer stories and depict things that would have been difficult to do in a shonen magazine. Erkael of Manga-News called the manga one of the best in the series, and said that it does not disappoint the reader at any point. Anime News Network called Steel Ball Run an interesting take on the battle manga genre due to its positive portrayal of a hero with a disability, and found it, along with JoJolion, to represent a big shift in the evolution of Araki's art, following his earlier shift from muscle men to thinner characters and fashion.

K. Thor Jensen of Geek.com called the portrayal of Johnny and Gyro's relationship one of the best platonic friendships in comics, citing their transition from rivals to close allies who make sacrifices for one another and help each other with their respective abilities. Erkael liked the high speed and intensity of the story, saying that it was as if Araki wanted the reader to feel like they were part of the race themselves, and how the story eventually opens up to follow several different characters whose paths at times intersect, leading to a world that feels "rich and dense". They wrote that the lack of Stands early in the story, with Gyro instead using steel balls, was surprising but refreshing, and reminiscent of the Hamon abilities featured in the first part in the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure series, Phantom Blood; they still enjoyed the shift in focus to Stand abilities later in the story, calling them "original and surprising". Kono Manga ga Sugoi! liked the depiction of the landscapes Johnny and Gyro travel through, calling them "beautiful".

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