New Visual for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run: 2nd Stage Details Coming July 3rd
Exciting news continues to arrive regarding the Steel Ball Run (Part 7) anime adaptation, which JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fans have been waiting for for many years and which took its first step last March. The production team has shared a new key visual for "2nd STAGE", representing the second part of the series. The visual features key figures of this relentless race across the American continent: Johnny Joestar, Gyro Zeppeli, Diego Brando, and Mountain Tim. With this new development, it has been announced that much more comprehensive details regarding the continuation of the series will be revealed on July 3, 2026, at the Anime Expo 2026 panel to be held in Los Angeles.
As you may recall, the first stage (1st STAGE) of the Steel Ball Run anime, consisting of a 47-minute special episode, met with audiences on Netflix on March 19, 2026. However, uncertainties in the broadcast schedule caused short-term unrest among fans, and various protest campaigns were organized on social media. In response to the reactions, Warner Bros. Japan and Netflix confirmed in a statement that the series is planned as a "split-cour" and that the 2nd STAGE episodes will begin airing weekly in the fall of 2026. This new broadcast format aims to both maintain production quality and keep the excitement alive for fans with a new episode every week.
Written by the legendary mangaka Hirohiko Araki, Steel Ball Run is considered the beginning of a new continuity in the JoJo universe. Set in 1890s America, the story begins when Johnny Joestar, a former jockey paralyzed from the waist down, meets Gyro Zeppeli, who uses a mysterious steel ball. This 6,000-kilometer horse race from San Diego to New York for a $50 million grand prize actually harbors a much deeper and darker conspiracy than it appears. Featuring supernatural regions like "Devil's Palm" and Stand abilities, as well as the Spin technique, this part is seen as one of the most mature and artistically successful chapters of the series.
On the production side, the David Production studio is at work again, as it was for previous JoJo parts. While the duo of Yasuhiro Kimura and Hideya Takahashi sit in the director's chair, the series' iconic music once again bears the signature of Yugo Kanno. At the Anime Expo panel on July 3, it is expected that Kanno will perform live and, along with interviews with the voice actors, the exact release date and a new trailer for the 2nd Stage will be shared. In the second leg of this massive nine-stage race, a challenging desert crossing of approximately 1,200 kilometers awaits our heroes.
