JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 7--Steel Ball Run Volumes 6-8 Manga Review

With the Steel Ball Run race well underway, Johnny and Gyro continue not only their transcontinental trudge across the United States but also their hunt for corpse parts—and answers about who the corpse is and why it's so important.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 7--Steel Ball Run volumes 6-8 were translated by Nathan A. Collins with touch-up and lettering by Mark McMurray.

With the Steel Ball Run race well underway, Johnny and Gyro continue not only their transcontinental trudge across the United States but also their hunt for corpse parts—and answers about who the corpse is and why it's so important.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 7--Steel Ball Run volumes 6-8 were translated by Nathan A. Collins with touch-up and lettering by Mark McMurray.

I get that it's not called Jojo's Totally Normal, Everyday, And Not At All Weird Adventure. Even so, it seriously can't be emphasized enough that, not unlike the way Johnny and Gyro find themselves traversing great stretches of lands unknown to them, Steel Ball Run (SBR) really feels like series creator Hirohiko Araki is letting his already-wild imagination run freely at 75mph into areas unknown. Is there another series where the creator obviously took the phrase “finger gun” as literally as Araki, or another series with dangerous balloon animals?

Odd as that is, it still doesn't hold a candle to the story that, up until now, was happening in the background, but by the end of volume 8 is now clearly center stage: Everything going on with the corpse, and the President. I don't want to get too specific for fear of spoiling anything (though by now it's pretty obvious who the corpse is). But I will say that it takes some kind of person to go: “Hey, uh. You know [redacted]? Like, the historical [redacted]? That's a trick question; I know you know. Yeah, well, his corpse is in America now, actually. Also, the President is after it. And also, his head is [redacted]. This is my grand vision, and never forget: I made Stardust Crusaders, so I can do as I please, and you're all trapped in here with me, not the other way around.” And yet, against all odds, Araki is exactly—and exclusively—that type of person. In every possible sense, no one is making anything even remotely like Araki is. Similarly, no editor is powerful enough to contain him at his Araki-est. SBR is Araki at his most untethered to reality, and you should be equal parts excited and horrified.

Well, I say that, but if we're being honest, excitement wins the day more often than not. Araki knows his way around a fight scene or two, and we got plenty of them in this section of the story, which is more focused on Gyro and Johnny collecting corpse parts. If you like the more “episodic” sections of JJBA, these volumes are exactly what you're looking for. Stand-user-of-the-week type stories are bread and butter, and although it took a moment to reach that point, we got some pretty memorable ones. Or, to be more specific, Stand powers reach unprecedented heights of wild and hyper-specific in these volumes—the types that take more than a few loaded speech bubbles to explain—and even then, you're not 100% sure you understood it the first time around. If you've gotten this far into JJBA, it's probably safe to assume you're a fellow enjoyer of this particular flavor of nonsense which makes powerscalers weep. And if, in fact, you are, then this leg—or more accurately, this spine, right arm, eyes, and so on—of SBR will be a big treat.

This is all the more highlighted by Araki's art, which, like the previous volumes of SBR, is the best it's ever been. The only downside is that, because Araki's art style is so detailed and stylish, and because, more than usual, we have a landscape where truly anything could be happening, it can often be difficult to visually discern the particulars of the action. But for what it's worth, the good news is, it's JJBA, so some characters are bound to exclaim what happened anyways.

Even so, don't let that fool you: SBR has a darker tone to it than previous JJBA series. For example, let's talk about body horror: There's a lot of it! Like, a lot of it! Like, so much of it! And because the art is so lusciously rendered, you can absolutely bet that even the strongest among you will feel your skin crawling at one point or another. Even more so than the early parts of the series (and even Stone Ocean, which also had more than a little body horror), this stretch of the story isn't something I'd readily recommend to the faint of heart. But on the flipside of that, if you like body horror—doubly so if you, like me, think the more creative and unhinged it is, the better—then you need to stop reading this review now so you can hurry up and pick up these volumes because you're in for something truly unmatched. Further on the topic of warnings, it also bears saying plainly that in volume 8, in particular—without getting too specific, there's an attempted rape of a minor. It's visceral, gut-wrenching, and the horror is plain to see on the minor's face. If this is the kind of material you'd rather steer clear of, here's your warning.

At the end of volume 8, the stage is fully set, and we're finally starting to see the curtain being inched back, as we wait with bated breath for the imminent onslaught of Big Reveals. Now as ever, JJBA is masterful at building intense anticipation. More than usual, SBR has the feel of anything—truly, anything—being possible, and it's a fool's errand to try and guess. In that sense, it invites the reader to sit back and enjoy the thrill ride through all its many twists and turns. And with there being so much to love about this series, it's hard to turn that invitation down.

…Oh, also, as a fun aside: In all my years of reading manga and watching anime, it was volume 8 of SBR that I—who grew up in Oklahoma—ran into my first instance of Oklahoma being mentioned by name (as a place, and not as an attack name—EX: All Might's Oklahoma Smash) in any piece of Japanese media. So, “OKLAHOMA MENTIONED!” And all that.