Steel Ball Run is a perfect wild-west manga with a great story, characters, and fight between each character. The manga was also a new way for the author, Hirohiko Araki to rewrite Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and make the manga realistic. This part is one of the mangas that are easiest to start as a new fan while keeping old fans hooked to the series. Today, I will be covering the question of what makes Steel Ball Run a good manga.
Warning: Spoilers for Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 7: STEEL BALL RUN. Also mentions of Sexual Assault
What makes Steel Ball Run a good manga is the plot being an American race that took place in 1890. Johnny Joestar participates in the race to uncover the truth of Gyro Zeppeli’s steel ball. However, as Johnny and Gyro start becoming friends in the race, they start to encounter bizarre situations. They realize the true purpose of this race: obtaining the holy corpse for President Funny Valentine. Revealing uses of otherworldly powers such as a stand, the fighting manifestation of the soul of a user.
This manga has a lot of interesting characters that make the story full of life. Like the main characters, Gyro Zeppeli and Johnny Joestar.
Gyro Zeppeli is the first protagonist of the story. His introduction as a mysterious racer with his secret weapon, The Steel Ball, makes him a unique character. The conversations between him and the other protagonist, Johnny Joestar show how funny he is and his role for Johnny as a mentor to teach the lessons of the spin technique.
My favorite part with Gyro Zeppeli is his battle with Ringo. This battle demonstrates how he knows how to use his steel balls effectively. Even though Ringo has a Stand, Mandom that can reverse time by 6 seconds. Gyro was able to paralyze Ringo’s whole left side due to using wood shards in his left side of the shoulder being able to aim his steel ball to aim the final blow Ringo. Also, the Pizza Mozzarella bit with Gyro is very funny.
Johnny Joestar is the second and the main protagonist of the story, first shown as a desperate and Guilt-Ridden horse racer. His paraplegic condition and his character growth make him probably one of the most well-written characters I’ve ever seen.
Johnny’s past is very important in his character because of how much it mentally hurts him and challenges the stereotypical hero archetype. Johnny, as a child, had a pet mouse, named Danny. His father, George Joestar II while eating notices Johnny secretly trying to feed Danny some food. George prohibits that type of action and demands Johnny to drown his pet mouse in a pond. Johnny becomes conflicted about throwing Danny into the pond. However Johnny’s brother, Nicolas Joestar helps Johnny, giving him the option of letting the mouse free in the wild. This decision however bites both of them when Nicolas while training his horse is killed due to his horse freaking out over a white mouse. This leaves Johnny Joestar traumatized. Johnny is left with the guilt blaming himself for the passing of his brother. It further engulfs him when he fights his father as they argue about his brother. . His father claims, “God had taken the wrong son.” He kicks Johnny out of the house. This leads him to become a very arrogant person. When Johnny cuts a kid in line they argue to a point where he gets shot. Being crippled he cannot horse race anymore losing all the things he holds value like his friends.
Throughout the story, Johnny grows more confident in himself. Through each stand battle he goes through. This is shown in his former stand, Tusk. Tusk is able to make Johnny shoot between his nails using spin. Tusk evolves between Acts 1, 2, 3, and 4. Through each Act, Johnny can make his spinning nail bullets become much more than bullets. Shown as in my favorite battle, Johnny vs Axl, where Johnny is forced to face his past trauma dead-on thanks to Axl’s stand, Civil War. Johnny shoots manifestations of his past trauma such as his mouse and his dad, the power of the Holy Corpse awoke. Suddenly, Jesus Christ speaks to Johnny “If your heart is wavering…Do not shoot.” But Johnny refuses and continues to draw fire. Jesus tells him, “If your heart is wavering…Do not shoot. You will grow…Once more shall the gates leading to ‘A new path’ open for you.” Johnny then realizes who he needs to shoot, which is himself. He does that and his body is sucked up in the ground thanks to the spin. With this he is able to move in the ground as a wormhole to reposition himself to aim at Axl’s head
Overall, besides those great characteristics, his interactions with Gyro show each other’s contrast. Gyro is a menacing and goofy character while Johnny is a cold hearteds. They show themselves as great friends in each battle.
The main antagonist, being President Valentine, the current president of USA in Steel Ball Run. This villain is very impressive in both of his abilities and his overall motivation. He wants to gain the holy corpse parts to upgrade his stand, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (D4C). His ability is being able to go to parallel worlds without consequence and pull people back into his world. What makes D4C dangerous is that if any character meets a version of themselves from another world, they are both obliterated as they collide with each other. The only character who is able to avoid this is Funny Valentine.
His motive is using the holy corpse to make his stand a new form: D4C Love Train. This stand whenever its user is attacked brings good luck to only America and passes the bad luck to foreign countries. His patriotism is the reason why he wants to pursue this goal. Believing that his goal is in good faith in America. The cost is drastic due to the fact that he is willing to do anything to meet his goal. Such as ordering stand users to gain the holy corpse, murdering those who appear as an obstacle (even his wife wasn’t safe), and even committing sexual assault on a girl. He is willing to do anything for the sake of his country. I like how this motive contradicts his role as the main villain and makes us question whether what he’s doing is good or not.
One of the last battles between President Valentine, Gyro, and Johnny had a lot of amazing moments. Funny Valentine gains the Holy Corpse to gain his Love Train Form, showing his determination. Gyro Zeppeli shows his stand, Ballbraker, to break the light barrier and is willing to sacrifice himself to make Johnny learn the final lesson of the spin. Johnny’s breakdown as the President tells Johnny he is a ‘sacrifice’ for the good of the country’s future. The Perfect Retention Energy & Tusk Act 4 being the reward for the final lesson shows how Johnny and Gyro need each other. The battle ends with Valentine & Gyro dead.
Overall, this manga is amazing and should be recommended to readers. There are a lot of amazing characters with intriguing backstories and stand abilities. As well as the Western theme of a manga and overall plot make this story the most well-done.
