JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 7: Steel Ball Run
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 7: Steel Ball Run

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JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run is truly a masterpiece and one of the greatest manga to have ever been written. Its quality far ouclasses the rest of the JoJo manga series which were also great. The combination of intense storyline, amazing characters, beautiful artstyle and cameo of Jesus Christ in the story, makes it from the pinnacle of masterpieces. In addition the relationship of the protagonist Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppeli together with the main antagonist Funny Valentine who is a charming and superior antagonist can be said that it is the primary reason Steel Ball Run'ssuccess. Funny Valentine's design is created in such ... a way to achieve character perfection, his beauty, personality and Stand abilities make him possibly the best character in the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series.

Ok to start it off, i'm a huge jojo fan and i really like watching it. BUT, as i can see, reading it is not my cup of tea for THIS specific serie. I just couldn't get into it, which saddens me a lot because i heard the part 7 is the best one so far... I WILL watch it when it will have an anime adaptation one day, but for ME, and ONLY me, i couldn't enjoy part 7 as a manga. NOT because it's bad, but because i just couldn't get into the story. I will still recommand it if you like jojo, ... but if you only watched the animes, i would maybe suggest to wait for the anime adaptations.

I went into Steel Ball Run expecting greatness—people hype it up as one of the best parts of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. And while the art and character designs are definitely top-tier, the story itself felt slow and, honestly, pretty disappointing.

The pacing dragged for a huge chunk of the manga. The race, which should've been the main focus, felt meaningless at first. I found myself asking: Why should I even care who wins this? The actual Steel Ball Run race gets completely overshadowed by the hunt for the corpse parts. Once the story pivots into that supernatural territory, the race becomes just a background detail—and not ... in a good way. It feels like the author forgot what the premise was supposed to be.

Worse yet, even the race itself—something that should've been exciting and fast-paced—often felt like a drag. Instead of thrilling momentum or meaningful progression, it became repetitive and drawn out, lacking the tension or structure needed to keep it interesting over time.

And then there’s Gyro. His whole reason for entering the race is tied to saving a child—and what happens? The kid dies from a cold. It completely undercuts Gyro’s arc and makes all his efforts feel pointless. That moment really killed the emotional investment I had in the story.

Even after collecting all the corpse parts, nothing truly meaningful is done with them. There’s no big payoff, no satisfying conclusion to that entire plot thread. It just... ends.

I get that JoJo is known for being weird and unconventional, but Steel Ball Run felt like a bunch of interesting ideas thrown together without a strong core to hold them. Visually, it’s amazing, and some of the fights are very creative, but narratively? It just didn’t land for me.

On top of that, the cast of characters felt flat overall. Aside from the two leads, most didn’t leave much of an impression. It was hard to get attached to anyone, which made it difficult to stay emotionally invested. Some of Gyro’s dialogue also came off as awkward or oddly timed, which made his character feel inconsistent at times.

The story drags on for so long that it starts to wear you down. For readers who don’t have a lot of patience or prefer tightly paced narratives, this can feel more like a chore than an adventure. It’s like being stuck on a roller coaster that keeps climbing but never gives you that satisfying drop. There are moments of brilliance, but they’re buried beneath too much wandering and uneven storytelling.