On March 19 the premiere episode of the 7th part of “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Steel Ball Run,” aired exclusively on Netflix to critical acclaim. The anime was the highest rated on myanimelist.com for a short while and featured the first stage of the race in one 47-minute long special.

Fans of the series expected the following installment to come out the following week. However, the next week came and went without an episode and so did the week after that. Fans grew concerned, worried and upset with Netflix, who owned the publishing rights to the series.

After the release, it was rumored that the content rollout schedule would take place in batches, not weekly. This being due to “Steel Ball Run” not appearing in the weekly anime lists for netflixanime on TikTok.

This is when the now infamous picture of the main character of the part, Johnny Joestar, started to spread on social media platforms as a way for fans to express their grievances with Netflix and their perceived mishandling of the part’s release schedule.

But why were fans of the series so upset?

Stone Ocean’s mishandling

One big reason, is that the previous part of “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Stone Ocean,” was also owned exclusively by Netflix, who released the 38 episodes of the part in three batches.

The first batch aired on December 1, 2021 with episodes 1-12 being released. The second batch of episodes aired September 1, 2022 with episodes 13-24 being released. The third and final batch of the part was released on December 1, 2022 with the final 14 episodes being aired as part of the finale to the original universe timeline.

The nine month gap between Episode 12 and Episode 13 killed any and all hype the part may have had up until that point. Weekly releases, was what Jojo fans were used to and allowed for a steady momentum of continued interest over a shorter time span than the new batch releases.

This casted doubt among the fandom whether or not Netflix would go down the same path for the newest part. Fans dreaded that “Steel Ball Run,” the second highest rated young adult manga ever, would be treated in the same manner.

Mystery and Misery

Shortly after the premiere episode aired for Steel Ball Run, the director was asked when the second episode of the part would be released as part of an interview with Anitrendz.

“I want to see it soon, too! When will it be? I don’t know,” Director Yasuhiro Kimura said.

Obviously, this upset fans who wanted a more solid answer as to when their favorite manga would be getting an anime release.

Fans waited an agonizing week after the original episode to get any more definitive news.

An announcement and a trailer at the AnimeJapan 2026 RED Stage Event would give fans something to hold onto.

A teaser trailer for the second stage of the Steel Ball Run Race was shown off on stage at the event, and was subsequently shared on platforms by Netflix on March 29.

But there was only one problem. At the end of the trailer, a release date was given, 2026. There was no month nor day attached to the year of release. Just simply the year.

This made the perception toward Netflix from the fans even worse. The Johnny Joestar image spread like wildfire across Netflix posts and posts not even related to anime.

Eventually, Netflix caved. On April 5, NetflixAnime released a statement on the status of Steel Ball Run.

In those same comments, what seemed previously bitter and spiteful has turned into understanding and patience with the company, as they finally are giving fans what they had wanted to hear the whole time. Weekly releases.

Although Netflix has weathered the storm, a closer read into the statement could raise some red flags.

Batches and Weekly Release?

Firstly, the next set of episodes are set to be released in the fall of this year. This would mean at the minimum, there would be a five month gap between the premiere episode of the series and the second episode.

Secondly, Netflix’s statement implies that the batch release format would still exist to some extent, and here’s why.

The story of “Steel Ball Run” takes place over nine stages of a cross-country horse race. The premiere episode covered the first stage of the race. Netflix’s statement gives no indication that the weekly releases will cover past the second stage of the race, just that the weekly releases will start and cover the second stage.

So does this mean that batches of each stage will be released? That each stage will have an approximate five month gap between them? Surely this would lead to the same hype-killing that fans complained about with “Stone Ocean.”

Only time will tell if the series’ fans will truly get what they want from the release schedule of “Steel Ball Run.” Either way, if the quality of the content is as good as the premiere episode showed it can be, “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run” will most likely be remembered for that instead of the mired release schedule.