Steel Ball Run: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Ep 2 Review
Saddle up, pardners! We riding cross-country on this one, JoJo style!
Remember when the premiere for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run came out earlier this year on Netflix and everyone was excited about it? But then Netflix screwed us over by holding off on the next stage all the way back to the fall! That probably wouldn’t have happened if Toonami was airing! But now that is fall, I’m ready to hop back in the saddle as we go on a trip across the USA in the Old West! And already, things are starting to get bizarre!
By the way, this is likely going to be the only series I’ll be covering this fall for D&A Anime Blog. Both because there are no other series that I particularly want to cover weekly this season, and because, after covering four shows a week for months, I’m tired! Now, cue the intro and get ready to make some memes!
Mundane made awesome
The first stage of the Steel Ball Run is over, but in JoJo’s, even the most mundane of moments can become epic. Case in point, despite crossing the finish line first, Gyro didn’t win the first stage. He got penalized for using his steel balls as weapons on the downhill slope, so Sand Man wins! Which is a load of baloney, because he wasnt even aiming at anyone! He was trying to clear a path to get by! Now, Gyro could have taken it on the chin, but…he got even with Steel by ruining his champagne.
The next stage of the race is going to be a mammoth task. It’s going to be crossing 700 miles of desert in the American Southwest. I’ve only ever been out that way twice in my life, and I can tell you that it’s very hot, dry, and harsh. If you weren’t prepared back in the Old West, you could die. So, it’s best not to go it alone, which is why Gyro and Johnny decide to team up for the next leg of the race. That, and Johnny wants to keep learning more about the Spin to help him walk again.
It’s a good thing that they do. As they break off from the rest of the pack and head into the deep desert, it becomes clear that Gyro doesn’t have the best sense of direction. I think he was even reading the map wrong at one point! Plus, as becomes apparent, despite the rules in place prohibiting violence against competitors, violence will still happen. Either people will do it when the officials aren’t looking, or they will find clever workarounds. Case in point, the pair are attacked by this racer who uses bugs and cacti that shoot out their needles to try and kill them. This wasn’t made up, either. I looked it up, and that type of cactus can shoot out its needles!
I thought for sure that their attacker was a Stand User, but it turns out that he was just a freak! The man had insects nested in his eye socket! But Gyro outsmarted him in the end!
A Killer in the Race
There’s a bigger problem, though. The day before the second stage, the authorities reveal that several of the contestants have been murdered. Gruesomely! The culprit was one of the other contestants, and since they can’t stop the race, they brought in someone to investigate. Mountain Tim, a true cowboy and gentleman if there ever was one, and a skilled detective. He’s able to identify a clue based on the hoofprints left by the killer, and he’s already in pursuit. The bad news? The killer is following Johnny and Gyro.
It looks as though the next leg of the race will continue to heat up, and I am looking forward to seeing what happens next. There are 700 miles to the next stage, and America is vast! Plenty of strange things can happen!
Cue the outro!
