JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Needs to Fix a Major Problem Before Steel Ball Run Hits

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has officially announced a new anime on the way for the Steel Ball Run part of Hirohiko Araki’s original manga series, but the franchise really needs to fix a major issue with its release schedule before Part 7 of the anime hits. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is both one of the longest and most popular franchises from Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine running to this day, and the anime has helped to bring the franchise to a whole new level of popularity through the first six seasons of its release so far. But it’s hit some snags on the way there.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run has officially announced it’s now in the works, and that means it won’t be too much longer before the highly anticipated Part 7 of Araki’s manga hits screens. But it’s the way that it will hit screens that needs some fixing before its premiere. If it’s anything like the way that Stone Ocean was distributed around the world was during its run, then Steel Ball Run won’t hit as high of heights as it should with fans. The anime needs to return to a weekly schedule.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean Didn’t Have a Chance

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure really made a shift with the release of Stone Ocean. With it exclusively streaming with Netflix, the anime was then made available in a cour long slate of 13 or so episodes months after fans were hoping to see them. Because all of these episodes would drop at the same time, it meant that any major development (or small developments for that matter) would have to be a part of the conversation over the course of that single gap of time. It basically amounted to any hype for these new episodes lasting for a single weekend at most.

Watching anime has become a more involved experience among fans in more recent years especially. As new episodes hit screens, it becomes more fun to talk about what happened with each new launch to keep the conversation going through to the next episode. It’s harder to do with these binge releases as not only are there more things to talk about all at once, it also means that you really only get that one chance to talk about what happened before it’s time to move on to the next wave of anime releases.

This becomes even more crucial during the seasonal anime release schedules. Every four months, a new wave of anime make their debuts. That means there’s a very competitive scene for anime releases to get that small amount of attention from fans. So not only would JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure get a limited space to grab that attention, it then had to compete with brand new shows every couple of months. It meant it was very difficult to keep that interest going. Only the most dedicated fans were left when it was all over.

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JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run Has a Better Shot at Success

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run has a much better chance at success at not only fostering conversation with the dedicated fans who have been waiting to see Part 7 make its anime debut, but also brand new fans interested in seeing the franchise for the first time. This entry has one of the best chances for that overall considering it’s the first in a full reboot of the franchise. Although technically every part of Hirohiko Araki’s long running franchise tells a new story full of new characters, Steel Ball Run comes with a brand new universe to boot.

Without giving too much away from how Stone Ocean specifically comes to an end, it opens up the franchise to a whole new universe of stories. This kicks off officially with Steel Ball Run as it features a whole new member of the Joestar family in an entirely different kind of world than seen in the earlier entries. So fans who have never seen the anime before will be able to jump into this brand new story and enjoy it without too much issue.

The only thing that needs to chance is its release schedule. Netflix might have had an issue with their anime releases in the past, but that has quickly changed since Stone Ocean released. Not only have they shown that they are able to release weekly anime episodes as per the seasonal schedules, but they also release English dubbed episodes on a much quicker schedule. It just depends on the series’ demands itself, and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure could make some big moves for the better if Steel Ball Run comes to Netflix with its new episodes.