After six long months of waiting, the brand-new opening theme for the anime adaptation of Hirohiko Araki’s Steel Ball Run: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has arrived.
The new theme song, “Spin,” performed by Kroi, sees David Production do what it does best: render Araki’s bespoke supermodel characters in crisp 3D models. As with past 3D openings, “Spin” gives anime fans a preview of the adventures to come in the cross-country cowboy race. Key among them are a crap-ton of horses galloping at full trot, dinosaurs, and spinning balls.
Steel Ball Run is the seventh (and arguably the best) part of Araki’s ongoing shonen manga. It follows Johnny Joestar, a paraplegic jockey who joins a cross-country horse race with a humongous cash prize. He’s not in it for the money. He’s in it for Gyro Zeppeli, an enigmatic rider whose mysterious green steel balls temporarily granted Johnny the ability to walk again. The show’s 40-plus-minute first episode, which premiered on Netflix in March, was one of the year’s highest-rated episodes. It also served as one of the year’s most controversial stories.
Much to fans’ chagrin, a second episode didn’t arrive the week after the premiere, leading audiences to air their frustrations with Netflix’s radio silence by bombarding social media with King Von edits of Johnny Joestar (don’t ask). Much of this frustration snowballed from fans feeling like the streamer had kneecapped Stone Ocean, the show’s previous season, by releasing episodes in batches without promoting them. This release schedule controversially ended JoJo Fridays, the weekly release phenomenon where new episodes in the Golden Wind arc sparked water-cooler talk, fan art, and theories about where the show would go. Y’know, how TV used to be before streaming. Steel Ball Run presented a more frustrating reality: fans were left in the dark about when new episodes would drop.
Thank you for all the incredible support for STEEL BALL RUN JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. The series is currently in production and will be available for everyone to enjoy. We are planning a split‑cour release across the entire run of episodes. The next cour (2nd STAGE) will begin…
— Netflix Anime (@NetflixAnime) April 6, 2026
After what can charitably be called a social media campaign for transparency, Netflix and Warner Bros. Japan revealed the return of JoJo Fridays with weekly episodic drops this fall, starting with the “second stage” of Steel Ball Run at Anime Expo. The new trailer also gave fans a new look at newcomers to the Steel Ball Run‘s wacky race, including Mountain Tim, Funny Valentine, and Hot Pants. As far as the fandom is concerned, musician Nico Bellisario’s fan-opening, “Holy Steel,” can rest easy now that we’ve finally got an official theme song for Steel Ball Run. Likewise, YouTube compilations of the anime’s many openings are in dire need of an update to include Steel Ball Run.
Time will tell whether the anime will include a famous Western song as its outro, as it’s done in the past. We’ve still got our fingers crossed that they’ll use America’s “A Horse With No Name” or Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road.”
Steel Ball Run‘s second episode premieres on Netflix on September 25.
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