It’s America at the tail end of the 19th century. When an encounter with the mysterious Gyro Zeppeli and a ball allows partially paralyzed ex-jockey Johnny Joestar to briefly stand again, the latter decides to join the race known as the Steel Ball Run in the hopes of walking again. Such is the basic premise of Steel Ball Run, the seventh part of Hirohiko Araki’s Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure manga, and the newly released teaser trailer for its anime adaptation presents a glimpse of how all that will be brought to life onscreen.
The STEEL BALL RUN Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure trailer reveal came with the unveiling of the cast. There’s Shogo Sakata as Johnny and Yohei Azakami as Gyro, along with Kaito Ishikawa as Diego Brando, Rie Takahashi as Lucy Steel, and Kenta Miyake as Steven Steel.
It was also announced that Steel Ball Run Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure will premiere on Netflix in 2026.
Here’s the anime’s synopsis:
It’s 1890, in America, the Steel Ball Run — the first horse racing championship across the North American continent — was about to begin. Spanning around 4,000 miles, the race offered 50 million dollars as the winning prize. Johnny Joestar, once being hailed as a genius jockey, is now paralysed and lost in despair. He finds hope in the mysterious phenomena caused by Gyro Zeppeli, an outlaw aiming to win the race, and determines to participate in the Steel Ball Run Race. Each having their own goal in mind, the two form an alliance and set foot upon the gruelling adventure and race.
The Steel Ball Run manga ran from 2004 to 2011 and was initially serialized in Shonen Jump before moving to the monthly, seinen magazine Ultra Jump. Subsequent Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure installments are also Ultra Jump titles. Viz Media is publishing it in English.
©LUCKY LAND COMMUNICATIONS/SHUEISHA,JOJO’s Animation SBR Project 
©LUCKY LAND COMMUNICATIONS/SHUEISHA,JOJO’s Animation SBR Project 
©LUCKY LAND COMMUNICATIONS/SHUEISHA,JOJO’s Animation SBR Project 
©LUCKY LAND COMMUNICATIONS/SHUEISHA,JOJO’s Animation SBR Project 
©LUCKY LAND COMMUNICATIONS/SHUEISHA,JOJO’s Animation SBR Project 
The overall Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure series, which depicts the varied adventures of the Joestar family, began in 1986. Its ninth part The JOJOLands debuted in February 2023. The manga initially inspired an OVA series and a movie that were produced by the now-inactive Another Push Pin Planning, with a new line of david production-produced anime, including an OVA adaptation of the Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan spin-off, beginning in 2012. The Steel Ball Run anime was preceded by 2022’sJojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean.
Staff
• Director: Yasuhiro Kimura (Golden Wind co-director)
• Director: Hideya Takahashi (Golden Wind co-director, Urusei Yatsura remake director)
• Series director: Toshiyuki Kato (Stone Ocean director, Diamond is Unbreakable)
• Series composer: Yasuko Kobayashi (Stone Ocean, Attack on Titan Season 3 Season 3 Part 2)
• Character designer and chief animation director: Daisuke Tsumagari (Oblivion Battery co-sub character designer)
• Music composer: Yugo Kanno (Stone Ocean)
• Animation production: david production
Sources: Warner Bros. Japan Anime YouTube channel, press release
