Fans were eagerly awaiting the release of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run as a highlight of the Spring 2026 anime season. This installment of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure begins a brand new storyline. Rather than following the Joestar family’s descendants as in previous parts, this saga is set in an alternate version of the United States during the 1890s and focuses on a character named Johnny Joestar. Future installments will then follow the story of Johnny’s lineage.
This anime was expected to be a big hit on Netflix, especially since it’s easy for new viewers to get into – many thought it would be as popular as the upcoming Elbaf Arc of One Piece. Unfortunately, recent news about the release schedule has dampened excitement for the show.
Why JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Got So Popular
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a manga series that has been running for nearly 40 years. It’s become a classic in Japan, enjoyed by fans of all ages, and the anime adaptation by David Production has recently brought in a new, younger audience.
David Production isn’t the first studio to create animated versions of the manga. Back in the 1990s, Studio A.P.P.P. made a 6-episode OVA series covering the second half of Stardust Crusaders. They then adapted the first half of the story into a 7-episode OVA in the early 2000s. In 2007, A.P.P.P. produced a movie based on Phantom Blood, but it’s never been available on DVD or Blu-ray, even in Japan. Both OVA series were licensed by Super Techno Arts in the US, but they remained fairly obscure, being dubbed and released in story order.
In 2012, a new anime adaptation of the series began in Japan, produced by David Production. While streaming services were still relatively new, the anime didn’t become available in the US until 2014. Crunchyroll streamed the second season, Stardust Crusaders, and combined the first two seasons, Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency, into one. They also started streaming the earlier parts of the series at that time. Eventually, the anime also appeared on Adult Swim’s Toonami block.
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Since its first season, the anime has been well-received both in Japan and around the world, steadily gaining a larger audience with each new release. This helped transform JoJo from a relatively obscure series into something more widely popular. A key factor in its success was the consistently high-quality animation and direction, which successfully captured the unique feel of the original manga, especially its dramatic and exaggerated style.
TV Was More Important than Streaming
When the anime started being made, streaming services weren’t as popular worldwide as they are now. Because of this, Japanese TV ratings and sales were the main factors producers looked at to decide if the show would continue. While selling the anime to other countries was important, it wasn’t as crucial as success within Japan.
In Japan, new episodes of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure traditionally aired on Saturday mornings. When Crunchyroll began streaming the series with Stardust Crusaders (part 3), they released episodes just a few hours after they originally aired in Japan. Because of the time difference, this meant fans in the US and many other countries could watch new episodes on Friday afternoons or evenings. This created a fun tradition called “JoJo Fridays” that built excitement with each new season and helped the series become even more popular, frequently trending on social media.
JoJo Going to Netflix Should Have Been Huge
With each new season of the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure anime produced by David Production, the series became increasingly popular. So, when Netflix announced in 2021 that they had secured exclusive streaming rights to Stone Ocean (part 6), it felt like a major event. By that time, Netflix was already the leading streaming service globally, and the COVID-19 pandemic had further boosted the popularity of streaming platforms as traditional TV channels paused many programs for health and safety reasons.
With Stone Ocean available on a major streaming platform like Netflix, it seemed like the anime was breaking out of its dedicated fanbase and becoming a global phenomenon. This felt like clear evidence of its massive popularity, attracting the attention of a major entertainment company. However, fans were worried about how Netflix releases episodes – all at once – because it’s so different from the traditional weekly releases anime fans are used to.
Netflix Binge-Watching Model “Killed” JoJo Friday
I was really hoping when Stone Ocean was coming out that we’d still get new episodes every week like we used to, but it didn’t pan out that way. Instead, Netflix split the season into three batches. The first one dropped in December 2021, then the second in September 2022, and finally the last part in December 2022. Luckily, fans in Japan did get to see it on TV, but that started after it was released worldwide on Netflix. And it’s pretty huge – this part actually wraps up the story of the original JoJo universe!
The first episodes of Stone Ocean were a hit, reaching #1 in Japan and the top 10 in many countries around the world. However, its global ranking didn’t quite meet expectations and quickly dropped out of the top 10 in the weeks that followed. Many viewers felt that a weekly release schedule would have kept JoJo consistently popular, as new episodes would have kept it featured in the “New Releases” section and generated ongoing discussion on social media – a pattern later seen with the series Dandadan.
For fans, “JoJo Fridays” – the weekly online discussions – were more than just a social media event; they were key to growing the popularity of the series. Many longtime viewers missed being able to share their reactions to each episode as it aired. Because Netflix released episodes in groups, and people watched at their own speed, a lot of fans felt like a significant part of the viewing experience – and their connection with other fans – had been taken away.
JoJo: Steel Ball Run’s Weird Schedule
- JoJo SBR Episode 1 released on March 6, 2026, as a feature-length special;
- Netflix only confirmed the second part will be out this year.
The way Stone Ocean was released led to a lot of discussion, and many fans hoped Netflix would learn from that experience and release Steel Ball Run (part 7) one episode per week. Netflix had seen some success with this approach for other anime, such as Dandadan and Dragon Ball DAIMA. The excitement grew when Netflix announced a release date of March 6, 2026 – a Friday – which reminded fans of the popular “JoJo Fridays” tradition.
Despite a strong start with a feature-length first episode, fans received disappointing news. Although the initial episode covered enough material for two episodes and the entire first part of Steel Ball Run, Netflix didn’t announce when the second episode would be available. More recently, at AnimeJapan, Netflix revealed that the “second part” wouldn’t arrive until 2026, and didn’t provide a more specific date.
Fans anticipated a full 12-episode season, but Netflix is releasing the series in smaller chunks. This frustrated many viewers, especially since the first release only included one episode labeled as “part one,” with little information about future episodes. It’s unclear if the rest of the series will continue to be released one episode at a time, or if we’ll eventually get a standard 12-episode batch. Instead of building excitement, this approach has left fans confused and upset, with some criticizing Netflix for disrupting their weekly “JoJo Fridays” and releasing the series on an unpredictable schedule without any advance notice.
I want to know more… about these Steel Balls.
— Johnny Joestar
Before Netflix started streaming the series, new seasons of JoJo used to come out roughly every two years. The first two seasons, Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency, were released together in 2012, followed by Stardust Crusaders in 2014, Diamond is Unbreakable in 2016, and Golden Wind in 2018. The release of Stone Ocean in 2021 was likely delayed by the pandemic, as it was probably intended for release in 2020.
It had been three years between the release of the last episodes of Stone Ocean and the announcement of Steel Ball Run in 2025. Although this gap might be because Steel Ball Run marks a fresh start for the series – taking place in a different world and timeline with reimagined characters – some fans suspect there were difficulties reaching an agreement with Netflix or other financial backers.
Even though the popular ‘Jojo Fridays’ release schedule is gone, the series is still gaining attention on Netflix. This suggests that this release strategy might still be worthwhile for Netflix, despite fan complaints. Now, we can only wait and see how the series will be released in the future.
I’m so excited to share that JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run is now on Netflix! You can watch it with subtitles or dubbed in English and a ton of other languages, which is fantastic news for all of us fans!
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2026-04-01 17:36