Very good overall quality. Please keep in mind that this manga is in Japanese and that there may be some slight yellowing due to the age of the paper. Please feel free to ask us any questions you may have.
Hirohiko Araki ( 荒木飛呂彦) is a Japanese manga artist. He left school before graduation from Miyagi University of Education.
He enjoys the baseball manga Kyojin No Hoshii (Star of the Giants); the video games Mario Kart and Bomberman; and likes Prince and other African-American singers, as well as jazz, rock, and rap.
Not a fan of what's going on with this volume. It's mostly a slog through the desert featuring uninteresting and unlikable enemies. Mrs Robinson was a completely pointless chapter that added nothing and had no inherent value. The stuff with the Boom Boom Family was okay at best, but just felt like a worse redo of Metallica. These guys are goons. They should not be taking up this much time.
So what is there to like about this volume? Well, Moutain Tim is a highlight. He gets a hell of an introduction, with the horses bowing to him. His stand is pretty neat as well. I look forward to seeing more from this guy.
The moment where Johnny was stuck on the ground with blood in his eyes, but demanding Gyro continue the race was pretty cool. Johnny's putting everything on the line to try and get on Gyro's good side, but it looks like Gyro has already developed a soft spot for the kid.
In general, it seems kind of like Johnny gave up on life before meeting Gyro. He peaked in his youth, but I would imagine he was starting to become a bit washed up as a young adult. He was turning into an asshole coasting on his wealth and fame. As a result, he ends up shot and crippled. And this seems to have led to a lack of direction in Johnny's life. He didn't even know why he went to the starting line. So when Johnny first touches Gyro's balls (I said it) and stands for a moment, it's symbolic. For a brief moment, he is taken back to a time when he had purpose and direction. He could stand on his own. And now he's chasing after Gyro for the chance to get back on his feet. He's trying to learn to walk again. This language is all symbolic and has nothing to do with whether or not Johnny can actually ambulate. It's such effective dual phrasing. I have to wonder if it comes across the same way in Japanese, or if this was just a happy accident.
But it doesn't sit right with me that having to use a wheelchair coincide's with Johnny's regression as a person. It feels kind of ableist. Presumably, Johnny will grow as a person without regaining the ability walk. So his arc of attitudinal rehabilitation may end up mirroring the experience of real people who are cripple later in life. Someone in that situation may also feel as though they are in a similar situation to Johnny.
I want to take a moment to read into the subtext of the Steel Ball Run race. Actually, think of this as a leftist reading of the premise. Gyro, Pocoloco, and Sandman are all trying to win the race for the sake of undoing or escaping a societal wrong. It's a story where 3 marginalized people's only hope of escaping the unfair hand they've been dealt is by completing a 1 in 100 million feat of sheer talent and luck. And even then, only one person can win. Other native americans are still going to face genocide. Other black people are going to be exploited by sharecropping and tenant farming. Other child laborers are going to be treated like shit. One person, if they're inhumanly talented and get lucky, has a chance of escaping oppression. Whether it's intentional or not, this is a pretty big condemnation of the "bootstraps" mentality when you think about it.
Another bit of how much of a slow-boil this story is compared to other JoJos: chapters are in double-digits and only now do first bodies hit the floor, first mysteries rear their ugly heads, first murderers hide in shadows. Getting some Angelo vibes out of this bunch.
Now Johnny Joestar's adventure starts to get proper bizarre!
Gyro and Johnny are attacked by a dude who breeds insects in the socket of his left eye, who uses the bugs' wings' vibrations to trigger nearby cacti into shooting their needles at our heroes. Nothing suggests this is a Stand ability. In fairness, Gyro and Johnny would not yet have any reason to be able to see Stands, but at the same time the reader has already seen Sandman and Pocoloco's Stands so there's no reason for Araki not to show us. Thus, Mrs. Robinson is just some weirdo who can control bugs, a creepier take on that one dude from Naruto (who would have existed before Araki began writing SBR, so I'm curious if there was any influence there).
We get some minor lore about how there's a spooky mountain in the desert that, legend has it, gave a white man a magic ability that lead to his demise, so all the natives fear it. This comes amid some gruesome violent aftermath of a trio of dudes whose entrails have busted out of their bodies in a form resembling tightly coiled rope. Gyro teaches Johnny a little more about Spin, but it's not long before they are approached by the strange Andre Boom Boom, who seems to infect Gyro with a disease that makes his body attract iron and make blades seem to grow out of his foot and leg. Johnny is soon hit with the same ailment, and we see the rest of the Boom Boom family hype up their "curse" elsewhere.
With Steel Ball Run being a reboot of the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure series, the world must relearn about Stands and their abilities. It's thus pretty silly how Gyro's reaction to the blades popping out of his toes is that it's some weird disease he caught from Andre. It's also cool how Gyro's second opponent in the battles within the race can fuck with his steel balls by whittling down their iron. Basically, the narrative is forced to introduce a Stand for our heroes soon enough, and I'm excited.
WE GOT STAN- ... i mean "cursed people". i am really excited to see how these differ from stands and what araki has COOKING UP. also mountain tim.... yeah... i fuck with him. he is as cowboy as cowboy gets (also he's basically just has buggys devil fruit SO...) and wow... those balls of steel are RUNNING
Al fin Gyro y Jojo se están uniendo, jsjs. Por otro lado... qué interesante lo de los stands, no creí que también saldrían. O no serán Stands??? También YA NO QUIERO CONOCER MÁS A GYRO, si me encariño me temo que lloraré cuando... ayyyy (es un Zeppeli).
Seguimos metidos en la carrera de caballos más ambiciosa de la historia (paralela) de los Estados Unidos, y hasta ahora no hay un solo capítulo que no me haya encantado. Al género western/deportivo con el que arranca esta metageneración de Jojo's se le suman en este tomo el terror/misterio y las peleas bolaceras que venían siendo más o menos moderadas en los anteriores. No creo que la vista me dé para terminarme la pelea contra la familia Boom Boom hoy, pero a más tardar mañana vuelvo a montarme.
So I decided to go back to my roots and consume as much manga and anime as I cared to without pretending that I didnt want to. and I started with SBR bc my friend got me into Jojo at the end of 2022 and I'm stuck here now.
One star for my main boys Gyro and Johnny, and star for Diego my fucked up little guy, and one star for Cowboy media since I'm really into that. and like. I can't give it any more than that because as much as I love the story, there's too many racist caricatures to ignore. Araki outdid himself on this one.
This is fun and visually creative, but I still feel like the story has yet to really start. Gyro Zeppeli is the most beautiful man. I like these stand battles which don't feel like stand battles.
yeah the fights so far have been kinda whatever (typical early part stuff) but ive loved seeing johnny and gyro come together as a duo 🥺 when johnny told gyro to leave him behind and gyro stayed and fought for him 😭
Volume 2 of “Steel Ball Run” was just as engaging and exciting as the first, but fully reintroduces the idea of stand abilities.
While I could attempt to describe what I love about this story, in terms of pacing, suspense, and characterization, I feel that I could add very little unique thoughts to the discourse.
That being said, with stands coming back into play, I do have some (hopefully) semi-original thoughts on the ones we are first introduced to.
As most who would take the time to read this review will already know, “Steel Ball Run” is set in a different universe from the stories that came before it. This series being a fresh start gave Araki so much creativity that didn’t have to be constrained by the previous canon. I think one place that we see this is in these early stands. While in the past, stand abilities were diverse and creative, the main characters often utilized sheer strength, as other action manga protagonists will. While there is nothing wrong with that, it did feel like a waste when many side characters have such interesting powers while Jotaro’s stand can punch really hard. (A quick aside: yes, I know characters like Giorno and Jolyne had major differences, but while there were creative uses for their powers, punching was still a solid option most of the time).
In “Steel Ball Run,” as of now, no fight has devolved into punching matches. I appreciate that the combat must be strategic and does not rely on hand-to-hand fights. I hope to see this trend continue, as it has made every moment exciting.
Another amazing Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures Steel Ball Run!
In this part of the race we learn about how the US President is on the train and only financially backed Mr Steel’s race to find the rest of the corpse of Jesus. As he already has the heart, and the chest. Johnny has the left arm and it’s a race to get the next piece on top of a mountain. Dio
On their way Dio/Diego catches up to them and beats them at the 2nd checjpoint because Johnny distracted Gyro with a newspaper (but not purposely or in a mean spirited). Johnny then beats Gyro and takes 2nd place. Then Johnny and Gyro end up at the 2nd check-in where they stay at a cabin. And Dio joins them., unfortunately.
Then Dio is acting very strange in the cabin kitchen. He can’t see objects right in front of it of him. He also makes dumb but slightly funny jokes. My guess is they wanted to make this Dio very different than the main Dio.
Eventually we find out that Dio has the power to become a dinosaur and turn other live creatures or people into dinosaurs and control them.
Dio chases after Johnny and Gyro to kill them and get the next piece of the corpse, possibly to lower the competition in the race too.
Dio ends up grabbing the corpse eyes right before Johnny grabs them.
This volume mostly contains a lot of groundwork and character set-up writing for Gyro, followed by two battles (and the first Stand battle in Steel Ball Run). The table setting, involving Gyro's past, and the murder-mystery was great! Araki drummed up an eerie vibe and slower pace that fit the tonal shift of Volume 3. Plus, the fleshing out of Mountain Tim was really fun! But the majority of this volume details the fights involving Mrs. Robinson and the Boom Booms, which were arduous and uneventful to read. The stands were boring, and the framing of Johnny Joestar for murder seems too pedestrian a conflict for this insane series. The illustrations are still beautiful, but I miss Volume 2's flawless action set-pieces that were exhilarating to read. This was just too humdrum.
oe gyro... yarışmada ceza alman beni layığıyla mutlu etti yiğidim jojo da iyi hoştu AMA bu sayıda sanırım evrenin fantastikliğine giriş yaptık ( ya da daha öncesinde yapmıştık ama ben bilmiyordum) : ****gözünden böcek çıkartan eleman hoştu -atının adını beğendim *true love*- sonrasında 3 bölümlük boom boom bölümleri vardı : sanırım bazı seçilmiş (?) insanların özel lanetleri oluyor ??? bilmiyorum her neyse güzeldi demir manipülasyonu, bedende böcek yetiştirme, vücut partlarını dokunduğu maddeler üzerinden hareket ettirebilme... (ki mountain tim aşırı havalıydı ) hoştu verü naysü
not: oe gyro'yu sevmeye başladım
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
9/10 Podríamos decir que en este tomo se acaba la introducción a la trama y empieza ahora si de verdad.
Ya se juntan Gyro y Johnny (que a mi parecer a pesar de que individualmente son personajazos, aún no demuestran mucha química como grupo), pero sobre todo, vemos las primeras peleas reales con stands (que al parecer son dentro de la trama aún un misterio) con 2 villanos derrotados y lo bizarro de Araki saliendo a flote con cosas como el chico que se estrangula solo para quitarse el veneno.
Muy bueno como siempre, aunque siento que faltó un poquito del humor característico y el primer villano de los insectos se sintió un poco como relleno.
Series: Steel Ball Run #3 Rating: 3 stars - I liked it
This was an interesting volume. We had the ending of the first part of the race, which ended with Gyro winning but being penalized and losing first place, and the start of the second leg of the race. The second leg of the race has barely started but already very action packed. A three person family is targeting Gyro and Johnny and they have a very interesting ability. We get to see a second stand and another person with stand-like abilities. I am very interested in seeing how the Boom Boom families plan will go.
I liked it. it gives good pacing because they have to rest at night and run during the day.they also are facing many people including stands users and that creates a challenge because they're standless they can't see the stands so they're basically in the dark in terms of what they are dealing with. and also with a new killer on the loose they need to find him. it creates several stories to follow, great dialog and does it perfectly.
Unpopular opinion but traditional stand battles are boring. Lost a star due to that and the narrative stagnating a bit. The fashion is so peak though. I've never seen a series with this many male characters who dress extremely femininely and are still powerful and badass. I love it.
3.5 starting to develop gyro’s backstory but left me wanting more. really enjoying the re-introduction of stands, but not super impressed by the bad guys thus far. mountain tim was a highlight this volume. favorite scene: johnny bleeding out of his eyes lol
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
SBR Volume 3: Like the rest of the volumes, this was an excellent read. The art is amazing, which is standard for JJBA.
I particularly enjoyed the scene where Johnny tells Gyro to leave him behind until he clears the blood out of his eyes. Although they aren't close yet, Gyro clearly does not like this idea and does not go along with it.
We also get some insight into Gyro's motivation for joining the race, which was not what I expected.
The beginning of the fight with the Boom Booms also begins here, and it is, of course, entertaining to no end. Mountain Tim is a bit of a dumbass, however.