Steel Ball Run

Steel Ball Run
The February 2, 2004 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump, featuring Steel Ball Run character Gyro Zeppeli.
スティール・ボール・ラン (Sutīru Bōru Ran)
Genre	Action, Adventure, Supernatural, Racing, Western
Manga
Written by	Hirohiko Araki
Published by	Shueisha
Demographic	Shōnen, Seinen
Magazine	Weekly Shōnen Jump (2004) Ultra Jump (2005 – 2011)
Original run	February 2, 2004 – April 19, 2011
Volumes	24 (List of volumes)

Steel Ball Run (スティール・ボール・ラン, Sutīru Bōru Ran^?) is the seventh story arc of the Japanese manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. Set in 1890, it stars Gyro Zeppeli, a disgraced former executioner, and Johnny Joestar, a former hot-shot jockey who was shot and lost the use of his legs, as well as his fame and fortune. They, along with others, race across America for $50 million, reminiscent of the 1981 film The Cannonball Run.

Originally the first 23 chapters (4 volumes) were serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 2004 simply under the title Steel Ball Run. Although the character's names are obviously related to the series, it was unclear if the story was a part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. However, when the series moved to Ultra Jump in 2004, it was officially announced as part 7 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, but in an alternate universe, like the following and current arc, JoJolion.

The 95 chapters were combined into 24 tankōbon volumes (volumes 81 to 104 of the entire series), following the trend set by the previous part, Stone Ocean, of starting over the volume count. A couple of chapters were adapted into a "Vomic" series, which has voice actors act over the manga pages as they are shown on screen.

In the year 1890, racing jockeys from all over the world flock to the United States to take part in the Steel Ball Run— a cross-country horse race from San Diego to New York City with a prize of fifty million dollars. Johnny Joestar, a former racing jockey who fell from glory after a shooting paralyzed him from the waist down, decides to enter the race after meeting the mysterious Gyro Zeppeli. The steel balls that Gyro uses as his weapon of choice have a strange power that made Johnny’s legs twitch for the first time in years, so Johnny insists on following Gyro until he learns the secret of the spinning steel balls. The two men begin as rivals, but they grow closer to one another as they travel through the wilderness and face attacks from violent competitors in the race.