The JoJo Steel Ball Run anime will take the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure anime series in a new direction with Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppeli racing horses across the American Wild West. But when will Netflix’s JoJo Part 7 anime come out?
JoJo Season 6 is almost inevitable since director Naokatsu Tsuda stated in the past at Anime Boston 2017 that he would like to animate all of the JoJo parts. Tsuda is most excited about animating JoJolion, which is JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 8 in the overall series.
Plus, the JoJo Part 9 release date is in 2023. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 9 is officially titled JOJOLands.
More importantly, sharp-eyed anime fans on Reddit noticed that JoJo SBR received a new patent in 2021 on the same day as JoJo Stone Ocean. Could this mean there will be a quick turnaround time on the next anime sequel?
Anime Geek is predicting that the JoJo Part 7 release date will be in 2025, but it’s possible it could be in late 2024. The official announcement of the production of the JoJo Steel Ball Run anime will be in March 2023 at the earliest. (For more details, please see the JoJo Steel Ball Run release date predictions section below.)
The anime TV series is being produced by animation Studio David Production, which is best known for the JoJo anime series but they’ve also animated notables like Fire Force, Cells At Work!, and Strike Witches.
In recent times, the studio also rebooted the Spriggan anime for Netflix. The Urusei Yatsura 2022 reboot was released in Fall 2022 and it’s expected that the Urusei Yatsura Season 2 release date will be in 2023. The production of the Fire Force Season 3 anime TV show has also been announced.
The company has produced all of the JoJo anime seasons since the series began in 2012, so it would be odd for a studio change to happen now.
The main staff working on JoJo Part 7 hasn’t been announced yet. But it’s likely that the main staff will change based on history.
For example, director Kenichi Suzuki directed Parts 1 through 3 and also was the chief director for Part 6: Stone Ocean. Director Toshiyuki Kato directed Part 4: Diamond Is Unbreakable, the Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan OVA spin-off, and was the main director for Part 6: Stone Ocean. Naokatsu Tsuda was the chief director for Part 5: Golden Wind.
One of the main staff positions that will define the appearance of the new characters in the JoJo Steel Ball Run anime is the character designer. There have been different character designers for the last four JoJo seasons.
For Stone Ocean, artist Masanori Shino (Black Lagoon, No Guns Life) was the character designer, while Golden Wind chief animation director Shunichi Ishimoto created the Stand designs.
The series composition writer will likely remain the same since Yasuko Kobayashi has been working on the series since the beginning. Besides the JoJo anime, she is well-known for her work on Attack On Titan, Claymore, Death Note, Dororo, Kakegurui, Trigun: Badlands Rumble, and Witchblade.
Similarly, sound director Yoshikazu Iwanami and music composer Yuugo Kanno will likely return. Yoshikazu has been on the main staff since the first season, whereas Yuugo joined the staff starting with the second season.
The JoJo Part 7 OP (opening) and ED (ending) theme song music hasn’t been announced yet.
The Stone Ocean OP “STONE OCEAN” was performed by ichigo from KISIDA KYODAN & THE AKEBOSI ROCKETS, while ED song was the 2008 “Distant Dreamer” from Welsh singer Duffy.
The JoJo anime series first began in 2012. The last season, Stone Ocean, premiered exclusively on Netflix streaming on December 1, 2021. The TV show began weekly broadcasting in Japan on January 7, 2022.
In early 2022 it was confirmed that Stone Ocean was a “split-cour anime”, which is when a single anime season takes a multi-month break before resuming TV broadcasting.
What’s a “cour,” you might ask? For those unfamiliar with the lingo, a “cour” is a three-month block of TV broadcasting based on the physical seasons usually composed of 10 to 13 episodes.
Netflix released all of the Stone Ocean parts for binge-watching early, whereas Japanese audiences were watching episodes weekly. Thus, the last season’s finale, JoJo Stone Ocean Part 3, was released in December 2022, whereas Japan will watch the ending, JoJo Stone Ocean Episode 38, three months later in March 2023.
Based on the info provided by the Stone Ocean Blu-Ray box set release dates, it was known ahead of time that the JoJo Stone Ocean Part 3 release date was on December 1, 2022 (the episodes were broadcast by Japanese TV stations during Winter 2023). That means JoJo Part 6 will have three cours in total with 38 episodes.
- Updated December 16, 2022: Added JOJOLands release date.
- Updated August 22, 2022: Added new JoJo Stone Ocean Part 3 details.
This article provides everything that is known about JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 7: Steel Ball Run (JoJo Part 7 / JoJo Season 6) and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve down into what is known for certain.
JoJo Steel Ball Run release date predictions: Will Netflix’s success cause a quicker renewal?
As of the last update, Netflix, Warner Bros. Japan, Studio David Production, or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the JoJo Part 7 anime release date. Nor has the production of the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run anime sequel been announced.
Once the news is officially confirmed, this article will be updated with the relevant information.
In the meantime, it’s possible to speculate about when, or if, the JoJo Part 7 release date will occur in the future.
One critical distinction to know is that Netflix itself won’t directly decide whether to have JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure renewed for another season. Netflix has exclusive international streaming rights, but they’re not part of the anime production committee that will make the decision.
Regardless, the streaming success (or lack thereof) on Netflix is a critical factor since streaming revenue is the biggest portion of income in the anime industry. Netflix has partnered with a variety of Japanese anime studios including NAZ, Science SARU, Studio Mir, MAPPA, Production I.G, BONES, and Sublimation.
The good news is that “Stone Ocean” was trending on Twitter when the fifth season premiered on December 1, 2021.
However, it didn’t make it to the global Netflix Top 10 for English or non-English TV shows on December 1, 2021. In fact, Stone Ocean didn’t even make the global Netflix Top 100 on the premiere day.
To put that info in perspective, there were other anime and animations trending that day. ARCANE: League of Legends (ARCANE Season 2 is confirmed) was #3, the live-action Cowboy Bebop was #10, even the EDENS ZERO anime made the global Netflix Top 100 that day.
The good news is that the Stone Ocean anime began dominating the charts on the Netflix Japan Top 10 starting December 2, 2021. It was even #1 in Bulgaria. Globally, it was the #2 top TV show on Netflix that day, right behind Lost in Space Season 3.
More importantly, the anime made #6 in the USA that day. The official Netflix Anime Twitter account even proclaimed, “GREATEST. ANIME. EVER.”
So, there’s plenty of steam to the JoJo hype train, which in theory could give a financial incentive for a quicker turnaround. But will this global success as a Netflix anime exclusive change anything?
Besides finishing Stone Ocean in 2023, we know that Studio David Production will be busy working on the Fire Force Season 3 anime, which was confirmed to be in production in May 2022. There’s also the two-cour Lum, the Invader Girl Season 2, which will also be in production in 2023. The Undead Unluck anime release date was also in 2023.
All of those projects have completely different main staff from the JoJo anime so these other TV shows would not stand in the way of a quicker turnaround for the JoJo Steel Ball anime. But that doesn’t necessarily mean things will move any faster.
Regardless of the Netflix money flowing into the anime industry, the production teams can’t move any faster since many animators are still living in poverty under awful working conditions.
Right now, the anime industry is experiencing a labor shortage caused by a mass employee exodus due to burnout caused by hectic production schedules, low wages, and family considerations. There are not enough people to train new animators, so art quality is declining and mid-season production delays for big titles have become common (the Wonder Egg Priority anime and the 86 anime are examples).
The industry is operating at peak capacity, there are not enough workers to go around so a lot of work is outsourced to Korea and China, and studios have projects scheduled out years in advance.
As such, the primary consideration for making a prediction is the wait time between JoJo Seasons, which has averaged about 2.5 years in recent times. There were nine months between Stardust Crusaders and Diamond Is Unbreakable, then a 21-month wait for Golden Wind followed by a 30-month wait for Stone Ocean.
Therefore, it’s likely that the JoJo Part 7 release date will be in 2025 at the earliest.
But what about that new JoJo SBR patent that was made on September 22, 2021? It’s possible this info could indicate an accelerated production schedule, but even then expect to wait until at least the second half of 2024.
Any official announcement will happen after Stone Ocean has finished broadcasting on Japanese TV, which means anime fans will have to wait until at least March 2023. However, based on the way the anime TV series has historically revealed information to the public, it’s predicted that the actual announcement will take place at a later event.
JoJo Part 9: JoJoLands manga is the latest in the series
The story for the anime is based on the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure manga series by creator Hirohiko Araki. The manga started serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump way back in 1987 and since 2005 the manga moved to Ultra Jump magazine. The series has been collected in 131 volumes as of September 2021.
The JoJo: Stone Ocean manga reached its ending back in 2003 and the sequel, JoJo Part 7: Steel Ball Run, finished in 2011. JoJo Part 8: JoJolion started up in May 2011 and finished with 110 chapters in 2021.
JoJolion was set in the same universe as Steel Ball Run. However, the characters were different since there was a significant time in the timeline between the story arcs.
On August 19, 2021, JoJo Part 9 was announced with the tentative title of JOJOLANDS (JoJoranzu). Notably, a patent for the JOJOLands name was made the day before. The creator went on a long hiatus before releasing JOJOLands Chapter 1 on February 17, 2023.
The official English translation of the JoJo manga is available from VIZ Media. Unfortunately, none of the JoJo Part 7 manga volumes have been officially released in English.
As of May 2021, VIZ Media had only caught up with Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable. Part 5: Golden Wind was only up to Volume 6 out of 17 as of November 2022, so the anime is substantially ahead of the official English translation of the manga.
Why the JoJo Steel Ball Run anime is not JoJo Season 7
The first two parts of the manga series, JoJo: Phantom Blood and JoJo: Battle Tendency, were 12 volumes, so it was adapted as a single two-cour anime season with 26 episodes in 2012 and 2013.
The 17 volumes of the third part, JoJo: Stardust Crusaders, were 152 chapters in total. The second season was a split-cour anime season that was divided into two separate 24-episode broadcasting blocks that aired in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
The fourth part, JoJo: Diamond Is Unbreakable, was 174 chapters collected into 18 volumes. The late 2015 anime adaptation broke the mold a bit by having 39 episodes. The three-cour third season was released in late 2015.
The fourth anime season, Golden Wind (Vento Aureo), was also released as three cours with 39 episodes. The Golden Wind manga was 155 chapters collected in 17 volumes.
Similarly, the fifth anime season, Stone Ocean, had three cours with 38 episodes. The Stone Ocean manga had 158 chapters in 17 volumes.
By contrast, the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 7 anime is likely to be longer despite having “less” chapters. After Chapter 23, the JoJo Steel Ball Run manga was moved to the seinen demographic Ultra Jump magazine, which meant the chapters were published monthly rather than weekly.
This change resulted in JoJo Part 7 having 95 chapters in 24 volumes since the monthly chapters had more pages. As such, David Production could adapt the story as a four or five-cour JoJo Season 6.
Considering that the JoJo Part 7 anime will be running for at least a full year that means it will likely be a split-cour anime with two parts similar to Stardust Crusaders. Expect the break to be at least three months, although it might be better if it’s six months so the production schedule isn’t hectic and the animation quality suffers (gotta keep those CGI horses looking good!).
JoJo Stone Ocean ending explained
Stone Ocean was controversial not only due to the first female JoJo but mainly due to the ending. The generation-spanning story comes to an epic conclusion with Pucci attempting to rewrite the timeline of the universe so that the Joestars are dead and Dio reigns supreme.
Pucci even seems to succeed with this ultimate Stand ability Made In Heaven (officially translated as Maiden Heaven) since he creates an alternate universe and proceeds to kill the heroes one by one. Ironically, out of all the heroes, it’s Emporio who manages to kill Pucci, trapping his soul in the collapsing universe and thus deleting the villain from existence and preventing the previous events from ever happening.
With the JoJo timeline continuity abolished, the history of the Joestar family is radically different. Jotaro still lives in this new universe but he names his daughter Irene, not Jolyne, which seemingly symbolizes that future JoJo generations are unnecessary in this peaceful universe.
Despite Jotaro and Jolyne/Irene being allowed to form a healthier father-daughter relationship, it’s debatable whether this bittersweet Stone Ocean ending should count as a happy ending. While some characters are resurrected with the same basic personality, Foo Fighters’ death is rendered the ultimate sacrifice since her existence as even a different person is impossible since it was Pucci who brought FF to life in the first place by giving the plankton colony sentience.
Worse, the Jolyne we knew is essentially erased. Jotaro not only fails to save his daughter from the knives. Jotaro dies by having his face sliced open just as Thoth predicted way, way back in Part 3.
And poor Emporio witnessed all of these tragic deaths. Emporio alone is left to bear the trauma of seeing his friends reunite at the cost of their true identities and memories.
Resetting time in this manner also means that the vampire Dio’s influence ended back in 1989 when the main villain was destroyed by Jotaro. With no one left to continue Dio’s evil plan, that also means the bizarre adventure of the entire Joestar family that started with Jonathan and Dio is at an end after 100 years of fighting.
Despite being controversial, this final battle with Picco certainly sets up the conditions for JoJo Steel Ball Run. This capstone event also establishes a multiverse in the JoJo world, and these multiple universes become an essential plot point in the coming story arcs.
JoJo SBR anime spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
For some manga fans, JoJo Part 7: Steel Ball Run represents a culmination of years of experience as a manga writer for Hirohiko Araki. Some of the previous parts suffered from “Stand of the week” fights and story pacing issues. There were characters with no clear objective who didn’t develop over the duration of their adventure or characters who would disappear without making a lasting impact.
JoJo SBR resolves all of these issues by having a clear goal where there’s a constant push toward the finish line over the multiple stages of the journey. There’s a singular focus on developing the characters important to the story and reoccurring characters spur lasting growth.
And since it’s a new universe JoJo Part 7 retools concepts from the previous parts. Most importantly, the Stands are all radical. Rather than being projected ghost-like physical manifestations like the traditional humanoid Stands, many of these new Steel Ball Run Stands function more like tools or special abilities with some even being wearable objects.
Switching to a monthly release also gave Araki time to refine his artwork to be more realistic. Panels came even more alive with details and the characters’ proportions became far less cartoony.
The spaghetti Western-inspired story transports audiences to the year 1890 in the time time period of Phantom Blood in a different universe in the JoJo multiverse. Set in the United States, we’re introduced to two new main characters, Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppeli.
Johnny is a retired horse jockey who was paralyzed from the waist down in an accident despite being known as a genius in the equestrian world. The embittered young man finds hope in the charismatic Gyro, whose mysterious weapons, a pair of steel balls, are capable of making Johnny temporarily walk again.
And, yes, Dio returns! This alternate reality version is a British jockey named Diego Brando whose father, Dario Brando, tried to drown him as a baby by allowing him to be swept in a river. Worse, this abusive father still lives!
After this incident, Diego’s mother was abandoned by Dario and she raised her son on a farm where Diego discovered his talent for working with horses. The Brando family suffered in various ways and Diego’s mother died from tetanus when he was only 6 years old. The mother made Diego promise to use his talents to climb out of the pit of poverty and over time he gained notoriety by rising to the top of the British equestrian world.
This tragic backstory probably only makes Diego aka Dio slightly more sympathetic since he’s still a major rival to Johnny and Gyro. After Diego and Johnny became jockeys, the latter would always be in second place when they competed and Johnny’s father would always scold him over that fact. Diego was also the person to lead out the horse that Johnny’s brother Nicholas rode when he died in an accident. Diego also married an 83-year-old widow for the inheritance money and it’s rumored he poisoned her.
The pair of Johnny and Gyro came together after philanthropist Stephen Steel organizes the Steel Ball Run, a cross-country horse-riding marathon from San Diego to New York City that’s a series of nine checkpoints and routes. At each stage, points are rewarded and the rider with the most points at the end of the race becomes the champion.
The prize money is $50 million for first place, $1 million for second place, $500k for third, and so on, but Johnny is desperate to enter since he wants to learn the secret of Gyro’s technique.
Of course, there’s more to the story than a simple horse race. This adventure will prove to be quite bizarre in many ways, especially when multiple dimensions become involved.
Johnny and Gyro uncover a conspiracy by the dimension-hopping 23rd U.S. President Funny Valentine to use the race as a cover for gathering the pieces of an ancient holy corpse… which is heavily implied to be Jesus Christ. Yes, Jesus is the first JoJo! Johnny and Gyro not only battle against thousands of cutthroat competitors, but they must also contend with assassins sent by the President!
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until the JoJo Steel Ball Run anime release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!