JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run Could Break the Internet With 5 Epic Scenes
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure's next anime is going to have some scenes that are absolutely captivating when put in motion. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has been incredibly influential with its manga alone, but it's undeniable that it was David Production's expert adaptation that brought the show much of its fame today. JoJo is incredible when put in motion: David Production's anime has always provided a fluidity to Araki's trademark art style and improvisational storytelling while accenting it with a soundtrack and voice cast that are utterly peak.
Steel Ball Run's impending anime adaptation already has fans on the edge of their seats, and for very good reason. The anime is going to breathe life into a part that can best be described as perpetually in motion. There are specific scenes, though, that are sure to be striking once animated—whether because they were underwhelming in manga format but held a lot of promise, or simply because they're fan favorites. These are the scenes from Steel Ball Run whose animated version will absolutely dominate the internet.
1 Pizza Mozzarella
Fans Have Been Dying to See One Particularly Silly Scene From Chapter #41
Few scenes in Steel Ball Run so perfectly capture Johnny and Gyro's growing camaraderie like the Pizza Mozzarella scene. Trekking along, Gyro tells Johnny that he's written a new song, "music and lyrics by Gyro Zeppeli." Johnny remarks that he looks really bored before Gyro bursts out in song: pizza mozzarella, pizza mozzarella, rella-rella-rella-rella. Johnny tells him the song is great and easily gets stuck in one's head, "especially the rella-rella part."
If including this song sounds like a joke, it isn't. It's an absurd break from the dire circumstances and ever-present dangers of the cross-country horse race in which they're embroiled. It's also become absolutely beloved. This scene has captured fans' imaginations ever since it first appeared, and it was one of the first scenes from Steel Ball Run to receive popular fan animations.
The JoJo franchise itself has caught onto the song's fame, including it in both the Eyes of Heaven and All Star Battle games. Now, David Production is, of course, not beholden to the decisions made by the games' creative teams—the difference between Eyes of Heaven's voice cast for Stone Ocean characters and David Production's own voice team is a clear example. However, that makes the prospect all the more exciting. How is David Production going to render this beloved scene? It remains to be seen, but one thing's for sure: fans are going to go nuts for the anime version of it.
2 Johnny's Memories Of Gyro
Chapter #84 Is a Brutal Recollection of a Beautiful Friendship
Speaking of Johnny and Gyro, one of the most important entries on this list is deserving of its own spot, even though it technically fits into later entries: Johnny's memories of Gyro. In chapter #84, Johnny's grief over Gyro's death starts to set in as a flood of memories races past. Even in the manga, these scenes are absolutely heartbreaking and reveal Johnny's total debt and adoration for Gyro.
It could also easily be argued to be one of JoJo's most tragic deaths, and Johnny's reception of the reality that stares him in the face is just as awful.
In the anime, that sense of hopeless desperation for the return of a dear friend is going to be dialed up to 11. With proper voice acting, pensive music, and David Production's penchant for making JoJo's most horrifyingly human moments as heart-wrenching as possible, the moment is going to resonate deeply with JoJo fans. It could also easily be argued to be one of JoJo's most tragic deaths, and Johnny's reception of the reality that stares him in the face is just as awful.
3 Axl RO's Church Encounter
Chapters #56-59 See Hot Pants Reveal A Big Secret
Steel Ball Run's Hot Pants is among JoJo's strongest female characters, and there are several moments with her that could earn a mention here. However, her moments with Johnny and Gyro in the church are probably the most likely to resonate with viewers. Although an anime adaptation specifically is more likely to improve the trio's first battle together, against Ringo Roadagain at the beginning of the fourth stage of Steel Ball Run, their time together in the church is infinitely more cathartic—something the anime is sure to capitalize on.
In the scene, Johnny and Gyro follow Hot Pants into a church where she divulges her backstory and her gender identity. As part of Axl RO's ambush (arranged and deployed by Funny Valentine to retrieve the Corpse Parts from Hot Pants and Johnny), her guilt over her brother's death becomes a main focal point, too. Axl RO's stand, Civil War, is mechanically straightforward, but it's also the kind of Stand that is visually very revealing. It practically tells stories on its own by materializing people's guilt.
The battle takes place in Gettysburg, fittingly, and it also marks the clearest hint in the series that the Corpse Parts are actually the body of Christ.
The entire sequence is emotionally rich, nail-bitingly intense, and a strangely digestible info-dump about Steel Ball Run, its main players, and the thematic thrusts driving it. Whether it's the grotesque visuals or the harrowing stories, something about this scene is going to catch people's eyes.
4 The Last Battle With Funny Valentine
Steel Ball Run Picks Up Steam With Chapter #66, and It Doesn't Let Up
Funny Valentine is the President of the United States of America, as well as the central antagonist of Part 7. He also can lay claim to an incredibly confusing Stand power. This situation isn't aided by the manga, whose flat presentation can't do proper justice to the fluidity and dimension-hopping chaos of Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (D4C).
JoJo fans who have been around a while might remember the general bemusement surrounding Part 5's final antagonist, Diavolo. His Stand, King Crimson, was the long-time subject of widespread confusion, due to both an inadequate early manga translation and the general inability of manga's still representation to adequately convey how his Stand works. While the confusion surrounding D4C doesn't nearly match up, it's still a Stand that's going to benefit massively from animation.
Stands aside, the battle with Valentine is going to be unbelievably hype.Fans who read Stone Ocean before its adaptation might likewise remember how Stone Ocean's final block of anime episodes felt surreal and larger than life, in a way the manga couldn't have even touched. Pucci's speeches became truly grandiose, the effects as he achieved Made in Heaven, and the beautiful bursts of light and cinematic flair all came together to make everything fit together. The music and voice acting also, of course, brought out a new life.
Expect a ton of eye-candy as Johnny's Stand achieves its final form and Johnny masters all the secrets of Spin. Finally, expect tragedy.
The same will be true for Steel Ball Run's showdown with Funny Valentine. Expect a gorgeous rendering of golden rays of light as Funny Valentine's D4C is augmented with the new ability of the Corpse Parts to enter into a dimension where all misfortune is deflected away. Expect a truly horrifying transformation as Lucy Steel becomes the vessel of the Corpse Parts' powers. Expect a ton of eye-candy as Johnny's Stand achieves its final form and Johnny masters all the secrets of Spin. Finally, expect tragedy.
5 One Of JoJo's Most Beloved Stands Returns
Chapter #90 Brings a Major Surprise
The end of Steel Ball Run doesn't stop with Funny Valentine, though. In fact, it's the first part in JoJo's history where the "true" antagonist behind events isn't the final antagonist. In a last-ditch effort to maintain control over the Corpse Parts, Funny Valentine retrieves an alternate dimension Diego Brando, appealing to his vanity to convince him to come over to the other dimension.
Stowing Diego away, Funny Valentine returns to the Root World, where he tries to pull one over on Johnny while the new Diego Brando retrieves the Corpse Parts and goes on to win the race. When Johnny picks up on the situation, fans are treated to the epic return of one of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure's most famous stands: The World. Diego pulls out the stand of his original timeline counterpart, complete with its time-stopping abilities.
As Johnny tries to figure out The World, Diego uses advice from Funny Valentine to stay one step ahead of Johnny, overcoming him and winning the race. Watching as Johnny figures out The World gives immediate flashbacks to Part 3, Stardust Crusaders. Seeing one of the most iconic Stands of the original timeline is surely going to catch fire online, particularly because Diego is just as dismissively cruel (and unstoppably charismatic) as Dio himself—including greeting Johnny with a triumphant volley of knives.
The confrontation with Diego finally comes to an end with a surprise as Lucy Steel reappears to use the mechanics of D4C against itself, chucking the severed head of the original Diego at the alternate dimension Diego to bring his life to an end. Control over the Corpse Parts is regained, but not before Diego has made one final statement in Steel Ball Run. The statement? JoJo's Bizarre Adventure might be setting up a new universe, but everything that fans always loved about the original is there to stay—including its flawless anime realization.
- Created by
- Hirohiko Araki
- TV Show(s)
- JoJo Bizarre Adventure
- Video Game(s)
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R
- Character(s)
- Will A. Zeppeli, Jonathan Joestar, Giorno Giovanna, Jotaro Kujo, Joseph Joestar, Jolyne Cujoh, Johnny Joestar, Josuke Higashikata, Gyro Zeppeli
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a Japanese multimedia franchise created by Hirohiko Araki. It follows the adventures of the Joestar family, spanning generations, each with unique abilities and battling supernatural enemies. Known for its eccentric characters, distinctive art style, and creative battles, it includes manga, anime, games, and merchandise.
