STEEL BALL RUN JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

Episode 8

So I know this is a very specific point to open with and that this will only track for other folks who have watched a lot of shonen battle anime, but man, the pacing of the fights in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and especially episode eight of Steel Ball Run, really are miles above the competition. Intertwined with Johnny's growing dedication to walking again, the fight that propels much of this episode forward feels both narratively fulfilling and naturally progressing. The twists and developments, feeling motivated by the characters and their internal sense of logic, are particularly impressive, since this episode is filled with ridiculous concepts like magic fingernail bullets and a feral child who has a winch in his mouth, and the whole thing coalesces into something that is so perfectly JoJo's by the end.

Opening with Johnny piecing together that an underlying motivation for the Steel Ball Run competition is the collection of the stand bestowing Saint's Corpse, the fight between him and Pork Pie Hat Kid quickly turns into a game of cat and mouse where Johnny's only hope of winning is if he catches the assassin by surprise. Pork Pie using his stand power in reverse to return Johnny's horse, which would instinctively sniff him out, is an inspired, organic-feeling way to push the plot forward. Johnny blasts Pork Pie through the assassin's own portal thanks to some trickery of his own, then quickly tracks down the unconscious Gyro (let's not interrogate how he managed to climb that mountain without using his legs).

But Pork Pie Hat Kid isn't down for the count when he gets there! Another reversal follows, and Johnny is forced to give up the arm so Gyro doesn't become a casualty in Pork Pie's efforts to steal it. Punched up by the wealth of emotion Daman Mills loads into Johnny's tortured concession, this scene makes clear that while Johnny would go to nearly any lengths to walk again, letting his friend die in pursuit of that goal crosses a line. With Gyro and Johnny's relationship being the driving emotional core of so much of Steel Ball Run, this declaration of how much Gyro means to Johnny carries just the right amount of gravitas.

With Gyro being one of the trickiest boys in all of anime, though, they manage to defeat Pork Pie Hat Kid in the end and retrieve the Saint Corpse's left arm. They then speculate on why it holds so much power and finish up this leg of the race as Pres. Funny Valentine continues to scheme and reveals that he already has the corpse's heart embedded in his chest.

Having read the Steel Ball Run manga, this fight with Pork Pie Hat Kid is by no means a high point, or even super memorable, part of the expansive story. The fact that the anime can still get me invested in, and riveted by, how this episode unfolds is a testament to how good JoJo's is at telling this kind of story. This anime continues to be everything I hoped a Steel Ball Run adaptation would be, and I'm eager to experience the Scary Monsters encounter over the next couple of episodes.

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With JoJo's Bizarre Adventure playing no small part in his bisexual awakening, Lucas DeRuyter is thrilled to review the latest anime adaptation of a work that is nothing short of foundational to who he is today. You can catch glimpses of his own bizarre adventures on his Bluesky account and read about how these exploits have informed his taste in media and his broader worldview by checking out his portfolio. He and his JoBros catch up at least once a week in ANN's This Week in Anime column, where they have big, but appropriate, reactions to everything going on in this bizarre industry.

STEEL BALL RUN JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is currently streaming on Netflix.