Part 7: Steel Ball Run



Part 7 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, subtitled Steel Ball Run, is preceded by Part 6: Stone Ocean and followed by Part 8: JoJolion. Johnny Joestar is the JoJo for this part, and Funny Valentine is the main antagonist. Valentine's Agents and SBR racers are this parts villainous factions.

Steel Ball Run begins a new continuity different from Parts 1-6. It makes reference to earlier parts, but is not influenced by any of them. This part also introduces the concept of Spin, which is used by the protagonists of this story along with Stands.

Part 7 was first serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump as just Steel Ball Run, without the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure supertitle in 2004. Starting in 2005 Part 7 moved from releasing in WSJ to monthly Ultra Jump, where the supertitle of JJBA was returned, and ran until 2011.

As of now there is no official manga release for Part 7 in the United States.

Official Description
''In 1890 in America, Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppeli enter a cross-country horse race from San Diego to New York to compete for prize money. They soon come to find out the dark intentions behind the race, and get into a heated battle with Funny Valentine, President of the United States, over the dismembered corpse of Jesus Christ.''

Summary
Steel Ball Run is the seventh part in the JJBA series, and the first set in a new continuity. The part is set in America in 1890 and follows paraplegic jockey Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppeli on a cross-country horse race from San Diego to New York for the prize money of $50,000,000. Johnny is taught the power of Spin through Gyro, and develops his own Stand ability as well. Johnny and Gyro eventually uncover the dark truth of the Steel Ball Run race, which is for US President Funny Valentine to uncover the pieces of the corpse of Jesus Christ, and put the United States at the forefront of the world. The part ultimately ends with Valentine's defeat, at the loss of Gyro and many of Johnny's other friends, and Johnny learning to walk again. Although he does not win the race, on his way to Italy to deliver Gyro's corpse to his family, Johnny meets Rina Higashikata, who will eventually become his wife.

Characters

 * -|English =
 * Johnny Joestar - Johnny Yong Bosch
 * Gyro Zeppeli - TBA
 * Diego Brando - Patrick Seitz
 * Hot Pants - TBA
 * Mountain Tim - TBA
 * Lucy Steel - TBA
 * Funny Valentine - TBA
 * -| Japanese =
 * Johnny Joestar - Okitzu Kazuyuki
 * Gyro Zeppeli - TBA
 * Diego Brando - Takehito Koyasu
 * Hot Pants - TBA
 * Mountain Tim - TBA
 * Lucy Steel - TBA
 * Funny Valentine - TBA

Trivia

 * When Part 7 first came out in Shonen Jump, it wasn't originally called "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure." When the series moved to monthly Ultra Jump, the supertitle "JJBA" was added.
 * Chapters in this part are usually around twice as long as those from the past six parts, due to the jump from Shonen to Ultra Jump.
 * This part incorporates many references from across the past six parts. The most prominent trend is that each main villain is represented somehow in this new continuity, and appears in the original order they are introduced.
 * Diego Brando is a direct reference to Dio Brando, and he matches his appearance in Part 1, as they were both born Standless.
 * Magenta Magenta is a reference to Kars, as they both die in the very same way- becoming immobile and eventually stopping to think.
 * Diego Brando from an alternate universe is a direct reference to DIO from Part 3, as they both share the same stand, The World.