JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Part 7: Steel Ball Run (Official Colored)

[Leoti78]

31/05/2020

Yep, that's it. I've finished reading the adored and said best part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure...
What a journey ! I enjoyed every bit of it, from the story (the idea of a horse race through the late 1800s America and the twist of Jesus's corpse being the real objective), characters ( I particularly appreciated Hot Pants and her chemistry with Johnny, but also Sandman who is the absolute madlad, or even minor stand users such as Mr. Blackmore or Ringo) to the entertaining stand fights and the beautiful landscapes shown throughout the race.

I'll start by acknowledging the fact that Araki got fucking good at drawing, like holy shit some pages are stunningly beautiful (especially in colors) !

I must say I really enjoyed the character of Lucy, a kind of "part 7 Hayato", who endured numerous traumatic experiences, but without giving up. Furthermore, her relationship with her husband was really moving and cute to my mind.

Then Valentine, the perfect villain : behind an evil and selfish goal hides in fact a strong feeling of patriotism, that couldn't nevertheless overcome the thirst for power and control. D4C was a reaaaally op Stand that was absolutely wonderfully used to create entertaining fights with the protagonists.

And finally, oh boy, oh Gyro, such a deep character. He showed us lots of aspects that a JoJo character was expected to embody (a difficult yet moving background, courage, wit, a noble objective, humour, sometimes sadness, and so on. But that was a lot deeper than that, and Gyro was the perfect match for Johnny.

Their relationship just works so well it becomes unreal. Two strangers, different nationalities, different backgrounds yet they are perfectly fit for each other. I fricking loved the jokes/songs moment where Gyro put his whole heart only to be in front of a cold yet amused Johnny, even sometimes adding more to the ridiculous situation.

Johnny was an interesting JoJo to follow. He started the adventure for himself, continued for himself too but couldn't hold back his feelings to intervene when dealing with other characters like Hot Pants or Sandman. Above all, his sincere friendship with Gyro is what made him strong enough to go on on his journey for the corpse's parts.


Yep, we can all agree to say it was a bizarre yet amazing adventure !
Thanks Araki

 

[pikkle]

bruh how do you READ IT

 

[ajaja]

someone tell me how to read it-

 

[Wjk]

I'll be lucky someday~

 

[massiveweeb69420]

god damn it how do i read this

 

[Bunbo_Bucci]

I’ll write a better review once I finish the manga completely, (right now I’m on chapter 37), but so far I am absolutely in love. Gyro completely blew me away in the

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Roadagain

fight, his determination and passion for

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Johnny

just made my heart 😫 but anyways,

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Blackmore

is coming up soon and I cannot WAIT for that.

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Blackmore

is too pretty for his own good istg. So far SBR has been extremely entertaining, but oh BOY things really started to pick up at the

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Scary Monsters

arc. Can’t wait for the cheese song 🥴

 

[ReeeMam]

Best jojo part period.

 

[Arcana97]

What a ride

 

[DanTheMan6383]

This manga ruined other manga for me. After reading this, other manga just don't feel remotely interesting. This is the first manga i've ever reread, and for good reason. Read this even if you've never read Jojo before (though reading the OG series is recommended for the best experience). Im glad i was born in a time when this manga exists.

 

[Justsogusto]

The best manga I've read up to date. It has the most interesting story, very intricate and detailed art and an amazing set of very lovable characters who have extremely well thought out backstories and personalities. Hirohiko araki hit the ball out of the park (and quite possibly the galaxy) on this one. Would recommend to beginners and OGs alike. (Some of the concepts and arcs are just a bit confusing so I'd recommend beginners to look up videos on them) p.s I can't bring myself to read any other manga now cuz non of those appeal to me anymore after reading this masterpiece.

 

[Skelejojo]

Honestly the best part

 

[SotiCoto]

I will still never understand how people believe this the best Jojo part. It is almost like they never read any of the previous parts. SBR is the point where Jojo really jumped the shark, IMHO. It could have ended after Stone Ocean and would have been perfect... but no.
6th verse, rewrite of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd... with horses... and the most weirdly contrived protagonist stand of the series (each part in turn has steadily made the stands more and more "bizarre" to the point where Tusk had to be reinvented 3 times because there are only so many excuses you can find to spin fingernails at things)...

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and the ending completely cheapened and trivialised the end to Stardust Crusaders

...


... Maybe it is because it is set in America and most of the readers here are American. That is the only reason I can imagine.

 

[DanTheMan6383]

@SotiCoto I think it's just a difference of opinion. I for one put SDC at the bottom of all the Jojo parts (even though i still love SDC, it has my fav character in it). How is SBR a rewrite of 1,2, and 3? Sure, it took inspiration from those parts, but it ended up being its own unique part (at least, that's how i feel). I disagree with your thoughts on Tusk, because if you remember,

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Echoes had ACTS as well.

I think Tusk is done even better than Echoes because

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Tusk doesn't just get some random new ability: all of Tusks' acts tie into Johnny's progression with Spin

, which shows character development. Also, could you elaborate on how

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the ending cheapens/trivialises SDC's end?

Part 5 was set in Italy and a ton of Americans and japanese loved that part too... I respect your opinions tho, to each their own.

 

[SotiCoto]

@DanTheMan6383 : I'd put SBR at the bottom, though I've not read Jojolion yet. I didn't want to do so until it was complete... same way I didn't read SBR until it was completely translated. Still not sure which my favourite part is... but probably Battle Tendency... for meme value if nothing else.
Joseph is hands down the best Jojo.
But anyhow... SBR is a rewrite of parts 1 and 3 at least (maybe not 2) because it is essentially just alternate-timeline versions of the characters of parts 1 and 3 with a substitute hamon-power and substitute stands on another somewhat arbitrary cross-country adventure...

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which somehow ends with Dio... again

.
The thing with Tusk isn't about having Parts. It is about its power being so damned weird and niche that it has to keep getting reinvented because there literally aren't enough original uses for its default power-set. Jotaro managed to get through almost the entirety of SDC with a Stand that was literally just strong + fast + precise... and it was entertaining because he was clever about it. The characters weren't just being weird for the hell of being weird, and their solutions made sense.
Everything Johnny does though just feels absurd and contrived because his power shifts are so far out there that they're completely unrelatable... I mean did you seriously not think when you read it that projectile fingernails following some mystic golden ratio spiral generated by horseback riding or whatever is just trying too damned hard? It is basically just "this shit works because I say it works" level.
As for how it trivialises Part 3... that is quite simple:

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Dio is arguably THE big bad of the entirety of Jojo, and his end in Part 3 is one of the most memorable battles in the entirety of manga / anime history. His power so OP that it could only be countered by itself... by the descendant of his old nemesis beating him at his own game. And then along comes Steel Ball Run, and right at the end it freakin brings back Dio with The World right at the last minute just for Tusk to beat him with a completely bullshit arse-pull power of shooting his stupid spinning fingernails through a wormhole. It didn't make ANY sense at all... and was basically just a big "fuck you, you're not a big deal any more" to Dio. Kinda funny really, since Diego was probably the best part of SBR. For a guy whose power was just turning into a dinosaur, he did pretty fuckin well for himself.

... And Part 5... I thought that was one of the least popular parts from other opinions I've seen. It used to be my favourite when I was younger, but after re-reading it I started noticing gaping plotholes all over the place.

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Koichi and Jotaro vanishing without a trace. That strange power Gold Experience had to reflect damage back to its source which was used once at the start then NEVER referenced again.

I guess those things were just at the beginning though, since most of the rest was pretty consistent. I did like the ending. Figuring out exactly how King Crimson works was one of the big draws for me, since it was a weird one... and I think in the end it didn't really live up to its full potential.
Funny fact: You know that game Life is Strange?

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Maxine's power in that is strangely a fusion of King Crimson and Gold Experience Requiem. Like she can get past some obstacles by just walking forward, then rewinding time back to an earlier point, but she is still where she was from the future point... which is pretty much classic King Crimson causality-skip teleportation.

Yeah...
Steel Ball Run though... kinda short on anything making any sort of sense no matter how you think about it.

 

[DanTheMan6383]

@SotiCoto Battle Tendency is also my favorite part, and Joseph is a very close second to Jonathan for my personal favorite Jojo (i know, weird choice right?). I see what you mean by the Part 1/2/3 rewrite, and you're right. Araki literally just used an alternate universe as an excuse to recreate a Jojo storyline; the country race ins't as arbitrary to me because of each character's motives to win the race, which i feel was executed pretty well, since i found myself rooting for almost all the contenders. I think that

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Dio's return at the end was pretty much just shameless fan service; Dio is the most popular jojo villain (and my personal favorite villain) for a reason, and Valentine summoning him as a last resort still felt impactful to me.

I think we disagree on Tusk and Johnny purely on a opinion level; I am certainly a bit biased, but I didn't really think Tusk

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and its upgrades

were contrived. The golden ratio exists in real life, it's not some new concept Araki pulled out of the blue (though of course,

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it doesn't give people powers in real life

, sadly). While you mention that Tusk's newfound abilities had a "work because i say it works" level, i feel that the entire system of Spin itself had that level. There were times when Spin would be used to do something super random, and I just went along with it because it was just meant to work in that certain scenario. I agree with you on Dio in Part 3, but I think that

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Jotaro getting time-stop was a huge ass-pull

, it was a bit too coincidental and out of the blue. And to your point about

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the ending's Dio, Johnny didn't beat Dio. Johnny lost to his own stand because of Dio's intelligence, which makes sense, since infinite rotation can be used by anyone.

I've seen overwhelming appraisal for Part 5 on social media at least.

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Koichi and Jotaro left because they completed their objective: see whether Giorno is a good person or a bad person. They're not gonna just whisk Giorno away to live another life; Koichi saw Giorno was capable of living his own life, even with a Stand, so Jotaro was satisfied with the investigation. That Gold Experience power is Araki's fault, he essentially nerfed GE because he said in interviews before that he doesn't want heroes to be too overpowered; he wants heroes to rely on skill rather than sheer power. Kinda like Star Platinum's Star Finger ability, never used again.

Haven't played LIS, but i watched a walkthrough when i was younger, I heard the sequel is pretty good. In the end, does anything in the Jojoverse really make sense?

 

[SotiCoto]

@DanTheMan6383 : I'm gonna shorten my reply because this is getting out of hand...

I know about the golden ratio. I know it doesn't give powers. Neither do fingernails, generally.
Frankly the Stand powers started really getting out of hand in Stone Ocean... particularly when

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Weather Report started turning people into snails

.
Essentially... if explaining how a stand works just poses more mysteries than it solves, that is when you know it has gone too far.
I think the more ideas Araki burnt through, the more he felt obligated to make new stands weird, wacky and original... but it really just went too far. Stone Ocean presented a very final change to the series that was an opportunity to end it entirely... but it didn't. And that is why Steel Ball Run is the Jojo equivalent to Mass Effect Andromeda...

Oh ... and

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the whole thing with Jotaro getting time-stop wasn't really an "ass-pull" in light of Dio already having a stand that was basically just "Star Platinum but with time-stop". At some level it kinda made sense that they'd both have the same sort of stand as Jotaro couldn't have won otherwise... though to the best of my knowledge it is the ONLY time in the entire series where two stands have had exactly the same abilities.
Oddly enough, we'd already seen Dio earlier in the series with another stand similar to Hermit Purple. I have a sneaking suspicion that Dio's original stand wasn't actually that humanoid clock-figure as we know it, but something with the power to copy other stands by seeing them in action... and he managed to copy Star Platinum and decided to keep it because it was OP.

 

[DanTheMan6383]

@SotiCoto Yeah, i think its just a difference of preference at this point. You certainly have a hot take with your stance on SBR; to compare it to the monstrosity that was ME: Andromeda would be pretty controversial... I'm personally ok with the weird stuff. Jojo is called a bizarre adventure for a reason, and given the series' history, i don't think its even possible for the series to go "too far" (but i completely agree about the WR's snails). You could also make the argument that Crazy Diamond is just Star Platinum except with reforming powers, so to me, SP's random upgrade is still too out of the blue; i think maybe having an Arrow come into play would make it better. Tusk was explained fairly well, i never had trouble wrapping my head around it. Interesting theory about Dio, tho

 

[SotiCoto]

@DanTheMan6383 :

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What I meant is that Star Platinum had the potential for time-stop all along and Jotaro didn't realise it. My theory being that The World became what it was by copying Star Platinum, and Dio figured out its power sooner because he was already an arrogant, insane, immortal vampire.

That said, Crazy Diamond has a similar power, but not entirely the same. It doesn't stop time, but reverses it for an object in isolation. But whether there is any sort of consistency for the Joestar family tree... with some family members having strong humanoid stands while others have thorny vines... I don't know.
The Jotaro thing might have been made up on the spot for all I know... but it isn't unjustifiable. It makes a sort of sense in context, which is what matters.

 

[tblaziken]

@SotiCoto

I have a sneaking suspicion that Dio's original stand wasn't actually that humanoid clock-figure as we know it, but something with the power to copy other stands by seeing them in action... and he managed to copy Star Platinum and decided to keep it because it was OP.

I read somewhere Araki originally planned to make The World being able to use every Stand ability, but later changed to time-stop only, since it would have been too OP.

 

[SotiCoto]

@tblaziken : Totally makes sense. I mean the stand he demonstrated early on was definitely more like Hermit Purple than the later Star Platinum copy.