I originally had a review here on Steel Ball Run, but I deleted that because it no longer reflected my thoughts on this manga. It went from something that I had a lot of respect for, to my favorite story of all time. This combined with my love for JoJo as a whole has made this story a powerful influence on my ethos and my affiliation with manga as an art form. So my ability to write compelling reviews that are short and comprehensive will never do justice to my personal love for this story. Couple that with my ban on covering any of the main characters in depth (because then we would be here for much longer), this review can be considered woefully incomplete. Even with that in mind, I still have a lot to say on this story so lets begin.
Steel Ball Run takes place in an alternate universe to the first 6 parts of JoJo, people tend to fixate on this and frankly it annoys me. Araki was always able to write stories that broke away from the main canon of the Joestar's bloodline conflict with Dio (Part 5, 4, and 2). What makes part 7 special is Araki's strive to split off from his decade long epoch and create a true western like his first published work, Poker Under Arms. This inherent love with the setting of the west is not the progenitor of the amazingly crafted setting that is part 7, but it definitely plays a large role in it's detailed beauty. The integration of stands, the spin, the mummified corpse of Jesus Christ, along with the numerous seemingly unexplained oddities such as the zombie horse gives the world of Steel Ball Run it's unique edge. But what makes the setting go from exceptional to revolutionary is the brisk that our heroes explore it. The race acting as a catalyst for it's exploration makes the flow from place to place not seem forced or unconventional. This along with the attention to detail Araki puts into each place which is conveyed superbly with Araki's distinct art style, it brings to life the twisted reiteration of the country that I call home.
Although the quality of the setting withstanding, I still believe SBR would be a masterpiece just off the strength of it's characters, which I have expressed in forums to be the most important aspect of a story to me. Steel Ball Run does have some stinkers like Sandman, Mountain Tim, The Boom Boom family, Mrs. Robinson, Mike O., Oyecomova, Pork Pie Hat Kouzou, and the call backs that barely get any panels, but I believe that a good character serves it's role in the story while providing me with something interesting to thier personality. Characters like Disco, Dr. Ferdinand, Scarlet Valentine, and Magenta Magenta are not major characters but I believe they don't overstay thier welcome or are connected to our main characters in some way. Other than those incidents which are quickly forgotten after the Ultra Jump switch, Araki did a great job creating interesting characters that don't hog the spot light but also leave an impactful impression on our main characters and us the viewer. Pocoloco is a man with 1 in a million luck and trust in that to win the whole race outside of our main conflict during the story, which ties in the theme of JoJo that being fate. Blackmore has his little mini arc in his grown desire to take the corpse's spine for himself, which ended up hurting him which he then reaffirms his goals and heads after Lucy Steel, this along with having a very memorable design and mannerisms makes him a fan favorite. Steven Steel works with the president to organize the race, but then changes his motives to protect Lucy Steel from the president, this culminates with Lucy Steel's body being given to Gyro as a last ditch effort to defeat Funny Valentine. The relationship with Steven Steel and Lucy Steel is a very good aspect to his character as well as Lucy's. The Axl Ro fight is a corner stone of Johnny's development, as he literally has to overcome his past traumas and emerges an evolved person, which he literally does with his newly evolved Tusk act 3. Hot Pants was a nun that sacrificed his brother to save herself, which caused her to join the race and collect the corpse parts to be absolved of her sins. This motivation is completely separate to the rest of the cast and leads to some pretty interesting interactions between Johnny, Gyro, and Diego. Wikapipo starts off as a villain to Gyro and Johnny, seeking revenge for the widowing and blinding of her sister at the hand of the Zeppeli family. This is completely changed after he finds out that Gyro did the best he could to save his sister and that her blindness actually prevented her execution. This allows Wikapipo to switch sides and help protect Lucy Steel now with new indebted resolve. All these characters alone are not impactful, but the sheer number of them and quality of writing they have given the size of importance they have in the narrative they are in speaks volumes to the strength of Araki's writing. But we haven't even talked about Ringo Roadagain.
Ringo Roadagain is the best minor antagonist fight I have ever seen. It blends backstory, interesting mechanics, character motivation, character development, and beautiful art work into an unforgettable package. Ringo Roadagain was a child with hemophilia, a weak bedridden individual with a father who was drafted to the Civil War. One night a robber broke into his house and killed his mother and his older sister. The robber aiming to rape a young Ringo, drops his gun in grabbing range of him. Ringo grabs it and aims it at the robber fearing for his life. His hemophilia takes effect and blood gushes from his nose as he lowers his aim. In that stand off, the robber rushes at Ringo with his knife as Ringo aims and fires. Ringo survives with the robber dead, as he regains his consciousness he realizes that his hemophilia has been cured. With this, Ringo Roadagain has entered into the true man's world. Ringo now partakes in constant duels as an aim to improve himself and live by his ideals. But the caveat of the true man's world is that it will lead you to your death. As Gyro defeats Ringo Roadagain, he too is entered into the true man's world, this is a huge turning point in the story of Steel Ball Run as Gyro before this was unsure of himself. Cocky, arrogant, and altruistic, yet still tied to the words his father told him during his life as an executioner. The True Man's World allowed Gyro to go down the path he wanted to and achieve personal fulfillment. This is shown as literally in the next fight, he is able to out pace Diego Brando's dinosaur senses by following the path that he believed in. And in the end, he did pardon that child and live the life to the ideals he believed and pass those same ideals onto Johnny in as he dies from the bullet wound given to him from Valentine instead of moving into Love Train's light.
All the characters I have covered have a connection to at least one of our 5 main characters, and the interaction between them fleshes them out even more into some of the best characters I have ever seen. Unfortunately I will not even attempt to cover them because then we would be here all day. You just have to take my word on this one that the connection present in Ringo Roadagain to Gyro exist in smaller, yet different forms among the rest of the cast, the most obvious being Axl Ro to Johnny. This isn't even covering the relationships that already exist between our main characters, but again your gonna have to take my word on this one.
All in all, Steel Ball Run has some of the best writing in the series, with characters that have almost infinite complexity to them, with art work that captures the setting perfectly. This is a story that I will never forget and I can't wait for it to get animated.
