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.
And only now does the JoJo come to possess his bizarre supernatural ability. We're in volume four: by this same time Phantom Blood was nearly entirely over.
Some more backstory for Gyro, too, which is interesting and all - but I do think Mountain Tim might be my favourite character of this story. Shame how things turn out for him. Would've been nice to see him team up on a permanent basis and see the end of the story, or at least close.
Already it's starting to feel like my initial praise for an ensemble cast was given a bit too hastily: we've mostly just moved on with Johnny and Gyro since. Shame, really.
I'm forcing this review to happen baby. The iron siblings really put a damper on my motivation to read.
Gyro's backstory is pretty solid, but I don't have anything insightful to say about it. I think the translation really failed to portray his motivation. Gyro doesn't want to execute a kid, but has sworn loyalty to serve his king. The word they keep coming back to in order to describe Gyro's plight is "consent". Gyro says "I want to make this duty the pride of my heart. Guilty or innocent, there needs to be consent. Pride and honor cannot exist without consent...(later)... I need consent no matter what" This smacks of an overly literal translation. I want to buy into Gyro's situation. He's been primed since he was young to fulfill this role. And he genuinely wants to perform his duties well. He just want to be able to carry out his responsibilities with a clear heart and a sense of pride. Because of that, Gyro can't bring himself to kill an innocent kid. I want to invest in that story. But then he says something like "I only want to complete my duty with consent" and he just loses me. Come on man! I want to be on your side here, just stop talking like a robot! Help me help you!
Even with better localization, I don't think I'd be crazy over this backstory. It's fine, but I don't feel like there's a lot to chew on here. It's kind of cool to get some historical stuff in Jojo for the first time since Battle Tendency. My favorite part is probably when young Gyro tries to get the ball out of his dad's hand. The way he immediately goes for a clever, if goofy strategy is played for laughs. But it reveals a lot about his character. He always works smarter, not harder.
The bomber fight was nice. His power was a lot like Killer Queen (just like how the metal kids' power was a lot like Metallica). But I can forgive it because the way his powers were used to set up a chase was pretty cool. I'm here for these horsey antics.
Bringing this back because once again, people's bodies were turned into magnets (at least this situation didn't happen to them)
Also bringing back Risotto bc a guy could control iron. Basically Maria + Risotto = Boom Boom?
I couldn't find a pic but Gyro says "this isn't the same as when I spin my steel balls." Basically any time Gyro says "my steel balls" I will mention it here. Because I am a child.
Jotaro is quaking
Killer Queen has already touched the water
Gyro: "I'll move within 15... no, 20 meters of him and slam in my steel ball!"
The irony of Johnny getting a stand but he still can’t stand. Dude now can just shoot his fingernails at people. Also I squealed when Gyro said ORA when he threw his balls 😭😭😭 Bruno was close to be the main protagonist of part 5 but Gyro really is taking that role in this part and I love him. These Jobros have such a strong bond already. It’s reminding me of Caesar and Joseph 🥲
Previous volume was slightly a let-down, but I enjoyed this volume a lot, there were plenty of exciting fight scenes. I did not realized I missed stand fights this much, surprisingly previous volumes lacked of stands. Fight with Boom Boom family was exciting, I like Mountain Tim, Gyro and Johnny teaming up. Also, can you belive Johnny had actual significant scenes in this volume. Visually fight with the terrorist was cool. His stand's ability reminded me of Kira, I don't know if it's intentional or it's just that I think every bombing stand is a Kira stand.
The constant highlight of part 7 is Gyro. I love the man. His back story and motivation for joing the competition had me ??? but I'm rolling with it.
I haven't noticed maijor changes between art of part 6 and part 7 yet, but as it is now, the illustrations are gorgeous.
look I’m enjoying it all right but this is the only jojo I’ve not been able to get into before and I dont think it’s the story. the art is just kinda unreadable a lot of the time? i cant really put my finger on it. its probably needs to be in a bigger format?? maybe it gets better as it goes.
Series: Steel Ball Run #4 Rating:3 stars - I liked it
This volume continues the fight with the Boom Boom family. Gyro and Johnny end up partnering with Mountain Tim to escape the family and make it to the next checkpoint. We also get to learn more about Gyro, his rotation ability, and his motivations for participating in this race. We also get to meet an enemy of Gyros who is determined to kill him and claim the bounty on his head. I like that we are finally getting some backstory for these characters and are finally seeing more stands. The stands so far have been very interesting and unique with their abilities. Oyecomva’s abilities were very deadly and I liked how Gyro and Johnny outsmarted them.
I am really enjoying this series so far and can’t wait to see what other dangers and stands Johnny and Gyro will face next.
I loved Johnny’s “hunger” speech to Gyro, it helped a lot with Gyro’s character development/commitment to the race. Johnny’s dark determination was fire, and Lucy getting some action by stealing the message was awesome. Lots of good side stories going on, along with the main one of course!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Gyro backstory, more Mountain Tim, Boom Boom family. Little Gyro is very cute. This volume definitely followed what I've come to think of as a typical Jojo format. Not bad though.
This volume of Steel Ball Run is one of my favorites due to you meeting the goat mountain Tim. what happens in this volume: the start of the volume Johnny and Gyro are still getting chased by mountain Tim they thought he was a bad guy because he has so much arua he eventually catches up to them and explain how hes a good guy looking for the murder of a forgettable character that i forgot the name of. they talk to him saying they don't know nothing when they get attacked by the Boom family. they bring the BOOM that's what they do. they beat them getting blown up in the process though there ok in the next chapter they will be fully healed there jojo characters.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Muy entretenido. Pero hasta ahora, el más normalito de los tomos de SBR que llevo leídos. Lo promedio para abajo -tanto "La palma del diablo" como "La misión de Gyro Zeppeli" y "El terrorista de un país muy lejano" casi que clavan en ☆☆☆½ cada uno- simplemente porque las peleas que se resuelven no me volaron la cabeza (a diferencia de algunos de los personajes) y porque, salvo que incluye uno de esos "secret origins" que tanto me gustan (el de Gyro, ni más ni menos), la trama tampoco es que avanza demasiado que digamos.
loooved these fights, the boom boom family dragged a while but picked up in the end, and oyecomova was just v fun, gotta love stands that just make things explode (i miss you every day killer queen)
johnny and gyro's relationship already deepening is so 🥺 love them dearly
The story is really picking up now! Once Gyro's backstory is revealed, we have some good stakes set. Also, Stand battles begin, and that means neat puzzle/gimmick combat!
the stands lowkey are not doing it for me :( except for johnny's bc wtf is that. also i liked the character design of the terrorist. he was a total freak
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.