So I finished Steel Ball Run
So here we are!! I finally started the manga parts left, and just a couple days ago I finished SBR. Spoiler alert maybe but I decided to give myself some time to digest how much I loved it, because I wanted to spend some time with my thoughts and feelings instead of rushing to Jojolion and putting my feelings in the backburner
Once again here's the link to the livetweet thread and here's the tweet where SBR starts! Spoilers ahead and let’s get this show on the road fellas
What I liked
Genuinely I think I’m gonna end up singing this part praises more than anything else, but I will start by saying that I liked how the plot once again tip-toed the line between utterly ridiculous and heartfelt/serious. It gave me my long-awaited Battle Tendency vibes once again and I very much re-found my love for JJBA while reading this part, and a huge part of it was the mixture of high intensity with the more personal
I won’t lie, but I make fun of this plotline a LOT. There’s something very completely and utterly stupid about “the President of the United States is looking for the body of Jesus Christ, which is granting Stand abilities to randos” that never fails to put a smile on my face, and I think that Steel Ball Run succeeds with such a premise by playing it completely straight. I got invested. I got really used to it, and it was easy to digest. Because, also, for as out there as it seems it was actually very simple and straight to the point
I loved how character-centric this part was, too. How much of it centered on the shoulders of Johnny and Gyro and how they both had their own reasons outside of getting Lil’ JC out of Valentine’s hands, and how their worldviews affected one another–Gyro in particular became my favourite character very, very quickly, but Johnny also rose above to become one of my favourite Jojos, and only time will tell if I like him more than Joseph (but I think I might, actually)
First of all, I’m going to talk about Gyro, because he is legitimately a fantastic fucking character. Above all else I value his personality and mentality–I love that Gyro is the one who sees the beauty of the world and the worth of a life despite his position in Naples as a literal bringer of death, how he can care so much and have such a huge, open heart. How he is so stupidly ridiculous and his jokes make no sense, yet how, if you read between the lines, you realize he is deliberately acting the fool to pull Johnny out of his own head. I think Gyro is very emotionally intelligent, even if he has his own stupid moments of course, and he is the perfect contrast for Johnny
His selflessness is also calculated. He cares and loves, of course, but he knows when there’s too much at risk to make a stupid move that could cost him everything; something that he actually does with Lucy after the fight with Blackmore, because he knows meddling with the fucking president could bite him hardcore, yet he still offers SOME sort of help. It also hurts how much he sticks by and believes in his moral compass and ideals and how, despite his beacon of light, these don’t really transfer down to Johnny, even though it’s VERY satisfying to see the way they both make compromises for one another
On the other side of the coin there’s Johnny Joestar
I won’t lie and say that I wasn’t put off by Johnny at first, but he eventually really grew on me as I started to realize that he needed and fully intended to grow out of his initial state. And even then, Johnny doesn’t really grow at all, he just recontextualizes his character in a way that becomes less isolating and harmful to others
Johnny is selfish, egoistical, and pessimistic. And he never stops being these things, but he makes way for more stuff, too. He gives up the corpse parts to get Gyro back out of selfish desire to still be with him, but he does help others when he can and does want to aid the people he cares about. He never stops wanting the corpse for his own selfish gain, but he helps Gyro once he realizes Gyro’s goal is the epitome of selflessness. He slowly starts to believe in himself and his abilities, but he still falls to despair when things go wrong, or when he can’t immediately think of an exit or solution. The balance of all these traits makes you realize Johnny didn’t change, but rather that he is changing. He’s not done growing yet, and Gyro was a huge part of that
The best part? Johnny knows it. He knows he’s only just now started to grow, and he knows who inspired that growth, but he also still knows it’s up to him to continue moving forward
These two’s relationship was a joy to see develop. Yes, I ship it, but even beyond that it is impossible to deny that they both became important to each other. The growth of the relationship was fantastic and realistic. I could gush about how Gyro proved it to Johnny that he was still worthy of happiness, care, and companionship, or how Johnny gave Gyro some much needed emotional support despite the weight of his responsibilities. They were, above all else, best friends
Okay I gushed enough about my favourite parts but–
I did like the rest of the cast, too. My favourites were Diego, Hot Pants, and (unfortunately) Valentine. I liked the subversions going on with Diego and how we expected him to be truly evil just because of who he is, but he was actually kind of an anti hero. He did tell Johnny and Gyro to run away more often than not after all, and mostly wanted to get money and respect for his own needs/gain. Hot Pants I liked because of how she had her own agenda, and I really liked her not being quite an ally, but not an enemy either
Valentine… Valentine I liked because of his ability and personality. He is despicable and I truly hated him, but I think that’s what he did right–he made himself despicable, and yet used his own charisma, position, and the utter belief he has in himself to paint himself as a (sort of) convincing beacon of hope and truth. He truly believed he was in the right and that he was the right person to carry the duty of storing the corpse away, he truly believed that he had figured the world out, he truly believed that the suffering and deaths of a few were perfectly acceptable against the suffering and deaths of millions
On top of that, I really loved how Valentine, thus far, has been the one and only villain to successfully be able to negotiate with a Jojo–and to actually make such a compelling argument that clicks with the personality of the Joestar he is speaking to that they believe him. Because I can’t overstate just how intense and heartbreaking it was that Valentine spoke with such charisma and such heartless understanding of the situation at hand that he successfully dangled exactly what Johnny wanted and needed in front of his face–Gyro
What a refreshing take it was that the protagonist was so self-aware that he knew that, in a way, the villain’s goals were worth more than his own. Valentine wanted to protect his people (or so he thought), while Johnny just wanted Gyro and his legs back. Selfless vs selfish. Of course we know that Valentine is a dick, but Johnny doesn’t, and that’s what made that final confrontation so painful to watch–because, also, Johnny had already accepted a deal like that already, so I genuinely didn’t know if he was going to accept again or steel his resolve and let Gyro go
Easily one of my favourite final confrontations, ever. I think about it a lot. What great writing
I liked the application of mathematical stuff to Hamon and Stands, too. The infinite rotation, the golden ratio, and the spin were ridiculous and hard to follow, yeah, but they were also fun to watch and read about. That also opened the way for D4C to be a thing, honestly, since the multiverse was already explored in Stone Ocean and so much mathematical talk opened the doorway for it to not feel so out of nowhere
Other than that, I liked some characters here and there, and a lot of the arcs. I had a lot of fun overall if you can’t already tell
What I didn’t like
The darker tone of Part 7 is definitely a result of this series moving towards Seinen, and I don’t regret it. I appreciate how it built upon the darkness set by Golden Wind and Stone Ocean. The problem is that I could have done without the REPEATED endangerment of Lucy as a character
We get it, it’s fucked up. It’s never glorified and it’s always horrific. Her backstory with Stephen already puts a spin on it and subverts it in a way that I thought was clever and honestly refreshing, but when we get to Scarlet, Valentine, and then even DIEGO, like… did we have to do that? You’ve condemned the sexual harassment of this fourteen year old already via Stephen’s motivation to protect her, so why do you repeat this as a threat over and over again? And then make her pregnant with Jesus Christ’s corpse? God, that’s a sentence that sounds batshit and awful in and out of context
But yeah. Lucy Steel, she deserved a lot better. I know what happened to her wasn’t glamorized at all, but I wish we got less of it. It felt really gross
Final Thoughts
I loved, loved, LOVED Steel Ball Run. I was taken by surprise by how much I loved it and I am still awed that it actually dethroned Battle Tendency as my favourite part, but it absolutely deserved it. I laughed, I sobbed, I kicked my feet in excitement, I felt so many things with this part I hadn’t felt since Battle Tendency, and for that I am so grateful to it for existing
Looks like I will join in with the rest of the fandom that says Steel Ball Run is peak Jojo and the best of Araki’s writing thus far
I hope we see this part animated so I can get the emotional gut punches that it delivers but fully animated and voiced–voiced, especially. What a great journey it was to see Johnny grow as a person. What a great time I had. How fucking hilarious it is that Jesus Christ was the first Jojo ever
Next up is Jojolion. I’m not really sure what to expect, but I hope to have fun and I am excited to finally catch up, sans supplementary material. Thanks for coming, y'all
Let’s go home
