Summary
- Give secondary characters more screen time to flesh out their backstories and motivations.
- Expand on the relationship between Johnny and Gyro by adapting their interactions and adding new scenes.
- Make changes to clarify confusing moments, like Funny Valentine's sudden design change and D4C's weird abilities.
It finally happened: an animated adaptation of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 7, Steel Ball Run, is in production. Needless to say, fans of this legendary anime and manga series are very excited about this announcement. Steel Ball Run is often considered the best part in the entire franchise, and for very good reason.
However, despite the prestigious reputation that the original manga has earned, it still has a few odd writing decisions and minor flaws. With this new anime, David Production has the perfect opportunity to improve and elevate Hirohiko Araki’s excellent original work in help make this story even better. These are some major changes that the upcoming animated adaptation of Steel Ball Run should introduce.
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7 Give Secondary Characters More Screen Time
Add More Scenes With Beloved Characters
David Production’s animated adaptation of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure’s fifth part, Vento Aureo, featured brand-new original scenes that fleshed out the members of La Squadra Esecuzioni. Since this was so well-received by fans, the studio should do the same for Steel Ball Run and its extensive cast of fascinating secondary characters.
While Part 7 doesn’t have a concrete group of villains like La Squadra Esecuzioni, it still features some incredible minor antagonists. Yet despite their immense popularity, they had very little screen time. Prominent characters like Ringo Roadagain, Oyecomova, or Magent Magent would benefit from starring in new scenes that could flesh out their backstories, motivations and stands. Even some of the good guys, like Wekapipo or Mountain Tim, are in dire need of more screen time. The new Steel Ball Run anime could fix that.
6 More Small Interactions Between Johnny & Gyro
Expand On Their Endearing Relationship
Unlike most JoJo parts, Steel Ball Run has a surprisingly small group of main characters, which consists only of Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppeli, with other characters occasionally joining them. However, this ended up working well. It allowed Araki to flesh out both protagonists, while also writing fun and memorable interactions between them.
The upcoming Steel Ball Run anime should not only adapt every single interaction between Johnny and Gyro, like the “Pizza Mozzarella” song, the “Days of the Week” joke or the conversation about their personal secrets. It should also include brand-new scenes between the two characters that could entertain the audience while also making their relationship even more charismatic and heartwarming.
5 Explain Funny Valentine’s Design Change
How Did The Main Villain’s Appearance Suddenly Change?
It's not uncommon for Hirohiko Araki to switch up the designs of some of his characters as he’s writing each story, but what he did with Funny Valentine was unprecedented. When he was first introduced, the President of the United States and the main antagonist of Steel Ball Run was a short and pudgy man, but in later chapters he looked taller and more muscular, with no real explanation.
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When asked about this sudden change in character design, Araki joked that Valentine exercised between chapters, which is a hilarious response that still left some fans disappointed. The common theory is that he actually used the powers of his stand, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, to swap bodies with another version of himself from a parallel world. David Production could avoid this confusion by animating a brand-new scene in which Funny Valentine does exactly that, or eliminate the issue altogether by making him look muscular from the get-go.
4 Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap Should Be Less Confusing
“Who Shot Johnny Joestar?” Is One Of The Weirdest Moments In The Series
The brief story arc in which Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, or D4C, is introduced (colloquially known among fans as “Who Shot Johnny Joestar?”) is often considered one of the most confusing moments JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. This, of course, was 100% intentional. Funny Valentine utilized the interdimensional abilities of his Stand to shoot Johnny and frame Diego Brando and Wekapipo at the same time.
The only problem is that, despite the explanation that is given within the story, this event is still confusing for most readers. On top of that, Araki slightly altered the exact mechanics of how D4C’s ability works later down the line, which contributed a lot to this collective confusion. Diavolo’s King Crimson is another Stand with bizarre powers that confused manga readers for years, until David Production perfectly adapted it for the Vento Aureo anime. The studio could take advantage of the medium of animation to better explain how D4C works and what Valentine did with it during its introductory arc.
3 Sandman’s Change Should Be Less Drastic
Fix One Of The Most Jarring Heel Turns In The Series
The plot of Steel Ball Run begins with the story of Sandman, a Native American man who participates in the titular race without a horse in order to buy back the land of his ancestors. Due to his extensive screen time in the early arcs and his respectable motivations, Sandman could be considered one of the “good guys” of the story…until he suddenly becomes an antagonist and teams up with Diego in order to confront Johnny and Gyro.
Of course, Sandman was being manipulated by Funny Valentine, but this abrupt change in character was jarring. It's still considered one of Araki’s oddest writing decisions, to the point that some fans believe that Funny Valentine replaced him with an evil counterpart from another dimension. David Production could fix Steel Ball Run’s biggest writing problem by adding new scenes that flesh out Sandman’s personality in order to make his sudden heel turn less frustrating, while also keeping the surprise element of this plot twist.
2 Make Hot Pants’ Death Less Ambiguous
The Character Deserves A Better Send-Off
Hot Pants is one of the best and most important characters in the plot of Steel Ball Run. Y et, her eventual death scene is still one of the oddest moments in all of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. After allying herself with Diego Brando to take down Funny Valentine, Hot Pants falls victim to the president’s new ability, D4C Love Train, which redirects misfortune towards its targets. As a result, many insects and a window frame begin merging with her body, puncturing her heart and making her fall from a moving train.
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A lot of readers are still not completely aware that Hot Pants perished in this scene, because her actual death happens off-screen, and the story doesn’t linger on it at all. This is an unsatisfying send-off for one of the best characters in the story. David Production should try to fix it by making her death less confusing, while also adding a few new scenes from Hot Pants’ perspective that show what’s going through her mind while she’s falling from the train.
1 Extend The Ending
An Already Solid Ending Can Get Even Better
The ending of Steel Ball Run may not be the best in the series, but it is still quite solid and satisfying. Johnny Joestar grows a lot as a character, fondly remembers Gyro Zeppeli, and decides to travel to Naples to return his friend’s corpse to his family. Unfortunately, not much is shown about Lucy, Pocoloco, or the other participants in the Steel Ball Run race.
David Production has already expanded the endings of previous animated JoJo parts, like Stardust Crusaders and Diamond Is Unbreakable, by adding new scenes that explained what happened to some of the main and secondary characters. The studio could (and should) do the same thing in order to improve the already excellent ending of Steel Ball Run. It could show how the people of Naples overthrew their king, what Pocoloco did with his new fortune after the race, what happened with Diego and Hot Pants’ bodies, and a lot more.
- Release Date
- October 6, 2012
- Showrunner
- Crunchyroll, Netflix, Hulu
- Directors
- Naokatsu Tsuda
- Writers
- Yasuko Kobayashi
- Franchise(s)
- Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Cast
-
Kazuyuki OkitsuJonathan Joestar -
Tomokazu SugitaJoseph Joestar
