スティール・ボール・ラン #4 ジャンプコミックス

Steel Ball Run #4

by Hirohiko Araki

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.

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Comics, Fiction, Westerns, Seinen, Comics Manga

216 pages, Paperback

First published November 4, 2004

About the author

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.

He is a recipient the Tezuka Award for manga.

Reviews

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Bumbo · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Angie Rita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Memes in this volume:


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!"

[Bryce]

The Nail-Steel Ball combo is so sick

[Aleksandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was fun!

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.

[Jake Lewsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

even by jojo standards the stands in this volume are just unhinged lmao

[Ashley (Red-Haired Ash Reads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[James Whittle · Rating 4 out of 5]

ジャイロの過去とオエコモバの爆発してかっこいい

[Karol Bożek]

Czy szykuje się najlepsze jojo???

[Alicja Przydryga · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,25⭐

[Alicja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robi się coraz ciekawiej 😍

[Jules · Rating 5 out of 5]

Johnny Joestar is swiftly becoming my favorite jojo I fear

[Cam Cam · Rating 4 out of 5]

How to be la selle de Jayro pls 😔🙏

[ami · Rating 5 out of 5]

GYRO JEET ME JEET ME

[Kelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I could understand more of this story if my brain could stop playing “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy” on repeat every time I read it

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Guys guys, they said it, they said 'stand'!

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.

[Levi Rushing · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Gigi Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

STANDS BABY 😈

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

[Jesse Slater · Rating 4 out of 5]

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!

[Seth Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intense, imaginative, action which walks the tightrope of believability—and the impossible dream.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

he steel on my ball til I run

[Aiden Fish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peak fiction

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

[Rapha · Rating 3 out of 5]

ORA?

[investigatorjack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrorist arc is so fun! TheyMre so gay

[Nicollas Meister · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always wondered if Araki would change the standard formula of JJBA in the new universe, mainly because there is some kind of consensus on the community that SBR and Jojolion are way different than the rest of the series. Well, I see now that, at least for Steel Ball Run, the differences do not lie in structure so much - it's villain of the week, enemy stand user shenanigans, standard JoJo business. However, I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing, as the first few encounters with enemies are pretty creative on their own. In volumes 3 & 4, Araki (re)introduces stands in a pretty creative way: they still are very much the same, but some of them escape from the basic humanoid formula. More than the stands themselves, I loved the new lore behind stands - the whole devil palms thing, Mountain Tim and the Boom Boom's view on stands as some kind of cursed power, Mountain Tim's past on the desert (properly foreshadowed in volume 3, I think?), etc. Overall,
When it came to Gyro's past, I enjoyed the flashback as a way to show the audience his motivation, but I feel like Araki kinda shoots himself in the foot with these flashbacks, I don't know... Like, it's nice to know your character's motivations, but there are lots of ways to show that to the reader, and I feel like the standard expositive flashback is one of the worst ways possible. The mystery behind Gyro was a huge part of his charisma, at least to me. But, I think it serves its purpose on the story, as Araki touches on a theme that will likely be one of the main messages in SBR: nation, patriotism, laws, power, etc. Gyro is pretty much the epithome of a dude with ideals stuck in a system where he must serve his nation, and from what I've collected on a certain villain, he is the epithome of the ruling class, of the people in power, of those who benefit from people who act in the name of their nation.

[can! · Rating 4 out of 5]

really enjoyed this volume compared to the last. i was glad to see the ending of the fight with the iron siblings, it’s definitely been the least interesting point in the series all things considered

the re-introduction of stands has been really fun, and i’m enjoying the world building overall. i think this volume stands out in comparison as we finally start to see some real character development, especially from gyro. there’s definitely some things lost in translation but i still found it interesting. we’ve gotten these random stories from previous chapters come together to build up to a pivotal moment in gyro’s quest thus far, and allowed for the present-time story to blend in to it in a way i’m enjoying

oyecomova, the antagonist introduced this volume was alright at best. the fight scene through the waterfall in vol 23 was good, this villain gave killer queen vibes but there was enough originality for me to stay interested and push through to the end. i’m glad to see a resolution come by the end of the final chapter

kinda feeling some type of way about mountain tim lol. they led you to think he died in the explosion, then revealed he survived, but when johnny and gyro left from the rest stop they didn’t explain if MT was alive or dead. maybe i’m just being impatient lol. i’m looking forward to keep reading