STEEL BALL RUN JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure adapts the 7th part overall of Hirohiko Araki’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure manga. The series is a bit different from previous parts; the setting, abilities, and structure are all quite unique and make this part stand out from those before it. Perhaps it’s appropriate then that the anime has a unique approach when it comes to release times and air dates. STEEL BALL RUN first released worldwide on Netflix with its first episode (referred to as the 1st STAGE) having premiered on March 19, 2026. The 2nd and 3rd STAGES are set to release weekly on streaming services beginning on September 25 of the same year.
The 1st STAGE was a strong opening and, given its length as an extended 47-minute special, provided plenty of opportunities to hook fans into the world of STEEL BALL RUN as well as set the tone for future STAGES. As we await the future STAGES, we had the opportunity during Anime Expo to speak with two incredibly important members of the staff behind STEEL BALL RUN. Yugo Kanno has been working as a Music Composer for the franchise since JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Stardust Crusaders and is responsible for many of the iconic JoJo’s songs heard all across the internet. Noriko Dohi has been a part of the series since JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Golden Wind and is involved with many pieces across the overall production process. The interview touched on music, staff selection, and the decision to move to a split-cour model for STEEL BALL RUN.
Portions of this interview have been lightly edited for clarity. This interview was conducted with the assistance of an interpreter.
Q: How did both of you first encounter JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure? What was your initial impression of the series and which part was the first part you encountered?
Dohi-san: The first time I came in contact with JoJo was actually for work on Golden Wind. I had never really known it as a child. I had seen some of the anime, but everyone says to me how lucky I am to learn of JoJo as an adult. Because it’s so great.
Kanno-san: For me it was when I was a child. I used to read Weekly Shonen Jump. That’s when I learned about it. In elementary school, it was a little bit difficult for me to understand some of the content. But as I went into junior high, I felt like I understood it better. In Part 3, Stardust Crusaders, I was able to get into it a lot more. I think that’s when I first came in contact with it.
Q: Kanno-san, each part of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure contains a certain style that is distinct from other parts. Can you tell us about your process determining that that style is and translating it into music?
Kanno-san: For example in Part 7, STEEL BALL RUN, I really think of it as the story of two people’s growth. It’s mostly this cross-continental race and what type of stand comes into the stories. I find these certain keywords, like I am mentioning here, to understand the core of the story. With that, I can move quickly once I have that core identified. Until then, it is quite difficult to understand because Mr. Araki’s message is very important and sometimes difficult to decipher. The keywords, I would say, are the most important aspect that I focus on first.
Q: Dohi-san, as a producer, what is most important when translating JoJo’s from manga to anime? What have you learned from working on the adaptation of Golden Wind and Stone Ocean that you hope to bring to STEEL BALL RUN?
Dohi-san: The original from Mr. Araki is so fantastic. The world view, the story, the style of drawing, everything is wonderful. It is really important to stay faithful to that in the anime. But just staying faithful won’t create the anime that you see now. There is a lot of analysis and deep understanding that we have to gain first. Without that, I think it is really difficult to express to audiences the original intention of the work.
Q: Kanno-san, multiple parts of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, starting from Stardust Crusaders, have elements of jazz and funk to them. Can you talk about your exposure to this type of music and how and why you brought it to the series?
Kanno-san: For classical music, the accent is on the first beat. It’s on the one. In jazz and punk, it’s on the two and four. It’s what’s called the flip side of the tempo, you could say. JoJo’s muscles, the danceable, fashionable world he inhabits, I don’t think that could be expressed with only rock or classical music. These genres — when I was in high school or even earlier, my parents loved records and they were always listening to jazz in the house. I grew up with that, and I think that became part of my jazz and funk blood.
Q: Dohi-san, to what extent is the production team working with American history experts to keep the setting just right?
Dohi-san: So we had an expert who was our consultant, named Hidekazu Nishikawa. He is an expert in American history, so he would check our script and say “Oh, this might be in the original but it’s really not what’s the reality,” etc. One of the things we adjusted was the value of money. The same amount was worth much more back then, so we adjusted there, and then we also changed the kilometers to miles to work better with US audiences, but also for the time period and everything. That is what we discussed from the script stage.
Q: Kanno-san, Are there any similar types of genre influences you kept top of mind for STEEL BALL RUN? Was anything different about your approach to the music of this part compared to previous ones?
Kanno-san: Crossing the continent was a big theme, and so I kept western music in mind. This time around, I also used jazz and funk elements as well. My world view of JoJo, with having all of this experience from parts 3, 4, and 5 — I started to notice what I thought of as the JoJo-like music, and it became this one thing. So I continued that atmosphere, I kept the JoJo-ness, but I still showed this bigger scale in the music as well, and having race as a genre also be part of it. So I expressed through many different genres. For the sound of the ball spin, that’s something that I snuck in here and there. So that’s something to listen for when you’re listening to the soundtrack.
Q: Dohi-san, from the production team, what was top of mind when selecting staff for the series? How do you balance incorporating staff who are familiar with the series vs bringing in fresh eyes?
Dohi-san: We used the same director for STEEL BALL RUN as we had for Golden Wind, and that was because our director, Kimura-san, loves STEEL BALL RUN so much. They had said to our producer that he wanted to do it, and so together with Director Takahashi, they created it together. Really, it was because he wanted to do it rather than any other reason.
Kanno-san: By the way, all Japanese creators want to do JoJo.
Dohi-san: But no one comes and says they want to do it! I wish more people would reach out to me saying they want to.
Q: Kanno-san, What are some of the difficulties composing for the series?
Kanno-san: I feel pressure from all over the world.
Dohi-san: At the Dance with STEEL BALL RUN, I remember you saying, “Here’s what you’ve all been waiting for.”
Kanno-san: So far, this part has been the most painful birth. I have what’s called the curse of Part 5 —because the theme song for that part went viral worldwide. I feel like fans are waiting and it’s a tough battle to meet those expectations. It was a tough birth. For me, it’s better than Part 5, what I came up with. I feel a sigh of relief.
Q: Dohi-san, can you talk about the decision to release the series in split cours? Should we expect similar pacing across all of the cours, and similar lengths of time between them as there are between the 1st and 2nd STAGE? And, we have to ask, do you have any information about the release dates of these future STAGES?
Dohi-san: This is very important, so I’d like to answer it in detail. First off, this is a very difficult anime to produce. The horse races, especially, need to feel really real and that’s incredibly difficult. It takes an incredible amount of work. Not only do we need really good performances from our actors, but we need the reality of that as well. The original is quite long, so we can’t push our animators and staff to just do the whole thing continuously. That’s why we chose to split the cours.
As for the pacing of each cour, the first one came out in March, as I mentioned, and the 2nd STAGE and 3rd STAGE, as announced today, are coming out on September 25th on streaming. I understand that after the 1st STAGE, fans really wanted to watch right away, but we knew that the 1st STAGE was best as an introduction to express to people what this season is all about and to get audiences to want to watch it. For many reasons, we had to, but we also wanted to do it this way.
Going forward, what we announced today is basically everything we can say. But, while there is a long wait, we really want to make announcements of our next release dates and such. Please follow that, and just know that our staff work incredibly hard in creating this anime. When it’s not being streamed, that means that they’re working hard on the next one, so please follow along. It’s kind of like you’re on the race with us.
We’d like to thank Yugo Kanno and Noriko Dohi for taking the time to speak with us during Anime Expo and thank all of the staff behind STEEL BALL RUN for creating such an exciting entry into the franchise. Alongside the September 25 premiere date for the next stage, STEEL BALL RUN released a trailer during Anime Expo.
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