Steel Ball Run, The Legendary Jojo Book will finally be adapted into Anime | popgeeks.com

Steel Ball Run: An American Odyssey on Screen coming this 2027

The moment dedicated JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fans had long been waiting for finally arrived with the official announcement on April 12, 2025: an anime adaptation of Steel Ball Run, the beloved and often critically praised Part 7 of the series. Titled Steel Ball Run: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, the adaptation is in the capable hands of David Production, the studio behind the previous JoJo anime installments. This marks a bold new era for the franchise, one that takes fans on a high-octane journey through a reimagined America at the turn of the 20th century.

Unlike its predecessors, Steel Ball Run isn’t just a continuation—it’s a reinvention. It diverges from the original JoJo timeline, which concluded with Jolyne Cujoh’s harrowing fate in Stone Ocean. Instead, this part launches viewers into an alternate universe brimming with fresh faces, legacy echoes, and a wild, unpredictable narrative landscape. First serialized in 2005, the manga has long been hailed as one of Hirohiko Araki’s greatest works, blending historical fiction, surrealism, and intense action into a uniquely JoJo package. The fact that this adaptation is arriving nearly two decades later only amplifies the hype—and the expectations.

Set in the rugged American West of the 1890s, Steel Ball Run feels like a strange and stylish love letter to classic Americana. But in true JoJo fashion, it twists that nostalgia into something far weirder and far more compelling. Gone are the gothic vampires of Phantom Blood and the global Stand battles of Stardust Crusaders. In this world, psychic Stand powers have seemingly existed for generations—rewriting the Joestar legacy in the process.

At the heart of this story is Johnny Joestar, a radically different kind of JoJo. Unlike the prim and proper Jonathan Joestar from the original continuity, Johnny is a former jockey and a paraplegic, now thrown into a journey of self-discovery and redemption. And yet, in a twist that underscores the meta-layers of Araki’s storytelling, Johnny and Jonathan are, in essence, the same soul expressed across two different timelines. They share the same birthdate and the same Joestar bloodline—but their fates, personalities, and worlds are shaped by entirely different circumstances. Johnny is both a mirror and a counterpoint to Jonathan, embodying how legacy can evolve when destiny takes a new turn.

His unlikely bond with the mysterious Gyro Zeppeli, who wields the enigmatic power of the Steel Ball, sets the emotional and thematic core of the series. Together, they compete in the titular Steel Ball Run: a transcontinental horse race stretching from San Diego to New York, filled with danger, betrayal, and supernatural phenomena.

The premise feels like a surreal precursor to modern reality competitions. Picture The Amazing Race—but with horses, psychic battles, and a massive $50 million prize. And not in today’s dollars, either. In 1890, that kind of money would have been practically unfathomable, turning this already life-threatening race into an irresistible magnet for outlaws, opportunists, and warriors from all walks of life. Compared to modern game shows with prizes ranging from $100,000 to a few million, Steel Ball Run’s bounty is the stuff of legends.

But this isn’t just a race of grit and endurance—it’s a battlefield of Stands. Most contestants in the Steel Ball Run are Stand users, each wielding bizarre and powerful abilities that can manipulate time, space, perception, or even the very rules of physics. These powers turn the race into a constant game of strategy and survival, where threats can come from any direction, and trust is a rare commodity.

And beneath the spectacle of the race lies an even stranger subplot—one that feels like a dark, theological remix of Dragon Ball. Just as Kid Goku and Bulma once hunted the Dragon Balls to make their wishes come true, Steel Ball Run‘s racers find themselves unknowingly—or sometimes very knowingly—hunting the mummified remains of a divine figure. Scattered across the American landscape are the so-called God Parts, dismembered body parts of none other than Jesus Christ, preserved in miraculous stasis before His resurrection into a new body. It’s said that whoever gathers all of these sacred relics will have their deepest wish granted. Whether driven by greed, justice, revenge, or divine purpose, the race for the God Parts adds an otherworldly twist to an already supernatural journey.

With its mix of Western grit, religious mysticism, philosophical depth, and Araki’s signature flair for the bizarre, Steel Ball Run is poised to be unlike any JoJo anime before it. Fans can expect stunning landscapes, inventive Stand battles, and an emotional ride that challenges what it means to be a Joestar. The anime adaptation promises to elevate one of JoJo’s richest narratives, bringing new dimensions to a story that has already captured the imaginations of manga readers worldwide.

This isn’t just a race across America. It’s a race through legacy, identity, faith, and destiny—JoJo-style.