While endlessly scrolling through social media, I found a video with some great news... JoJo is back, and now with episodes airing on Fridays! I wasn't even keeping track of when the release would be, because the first episode aired on March 19th, and since then the community has been eagerly awaiting the continuation of the most famous race in anime.
To give some context, since it's been a while since the first episode aired, the JoJo Steel Ball Run anime is not a little, but very different from the other JoJo seasons, because it doesn't continue the main story of the Joestar lineage. This anime presents a story that precedes the first season and ends up having several references to the JoJo anime.
An interesting point about this anime is that it fits into the historical genre, because the main plot of a race across the United States of America takes place during a period of railroad development in the 19th century.
The curious thing is that the theme is somewhat controversial, since the beginning of railroads would represent the end of the horse era, and most of the competitors participate on horseback, while the announcer travels by rail...
Given the context, just to contextualize the characters and their powers, one of the protagonists, Johnny Joestar, was a great horse racer, but due to an accident, he lost the use of his legs. However, upon encountering Giro – the second protagonist – the "spin" ability of his "Steel Balls" caused him to stand up.
The quest to discover how this mysterious power works led Johnny Joestar to enter the race, and that's why the anime is called "Steel Ball Run". Now let's move on to the second stage of the race!
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JoJo Steel Ball Run - First Battle in the Second Stage!
The second episode begins with the conclusion of the first stage of the race that occurred in the first episode, so having some basic context helps. Even though the first episode lasted an hour, it didn't reveal the "true" winner of the first leg of the race.
Apparently, Giro won, but it was later revealed that he was punished for using his Steel Balls against an opponent and that the real winner was Sandman. I don't remember, but I believe the first place has an advantage in the next segment...
The other placements were Diego Brando in second - a clear reference to Dio, who has the ability to use pauses on his opponents' horses; then we have Poco Loco, who even with gigantic luck and that crazy scene of going down the hill on a cow skeleton, ended up in third; then we have Mountain Tim who will have a highlight in this episode; and lastly Johnny Joestar.
Among the scenes in this episode, the most fun, but also the most curious, is when Giro goes to complain to the organizer. His ability causes all the champagne bottles on the table to have their caps popped, meaning that his spin ability is transmitted. However, there was a scene where one of the caps hit a water tank, causing the energy to transfer and burst it; it's quite curious that the ability worked indirectly.
This episode introduces the beginning of the alliance between Giro and Johnny, as they strive to finish first and second, with Giro starting to give Johnny more tips on how to perform the turn. It then shows how the second stage, which takes place in the Arizona desert leading to Monument Valley, will unfold.
Since Giro ended up taking a different path, even risking not finding water, they encounter the assassins and the fight ends up happening between "cacti," which is quite interesting because of the mechanics presented and, from what I saw in a short, is a reference to an old scene from JoJo, where the cacti explode and launch thorns. This is the first direct battle in the JoJo Steel Ball Run anime and it already starts to make the story more serious, because now it's no longer just a race for positions, but for survival.
Finally, there's an interesting fact about the anime's ending that many have found bad; you can check the comments on the original video. However, I've seen some videos with other song suggestions that are much better, because the original version lacks a bit of animation. But the reason is that one of the people responsible for choosing the music passed away, so this is the first ending made without his participation...
