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In theJoJo’s Bizarre Adventurecommunity, fans have a running joke thatPart 7: Steel Ball Runwill be impossible for David Production to animate. While the company has done an amazing job thus far animatingJoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Parts 1-6, some fans are losing hope thatPart 7will ever be animated. Widely considered to be one of the best parts ofJoJo’sin general,Steel Ball Runwill present one of the most challenging animation problems that David Production will have to face; horses.
Outside the horses,JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Runalso features some of the most stunning and detailed visuals the series has had thus far. Additionally, some of the powers and complicated stands are conceptually difficult to translate from the manga to the screen. Overall, with these problems present, fans may have to sit tight waiting for all these issues to be resolved before aPart 7anime graces the screen.
Horses May Make JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 7 a Hassle
Horses Are The Bane of Animators
As manyJoJo’s Bizarre Adventurefans constantly joke, horses are incredibly hard to animate, andSteel Ball Runhas a lot of them. Taking place in 1890’s America, Steel Ball Run features a massive race across the country, called the Steel Ball Run. Due to the nature of the period, almost every contestant is equipped with a horse. This is especially true for the protagonist, Johnny Joestar, who is a paraplegic and uses a horse primarily to get around.
This Steel Ball Run race will be an event the likes of which the world has never experienced before!
Animating horses is a notoriously difficult task to undertake and not one thatstylized shows likeJoJo’s Bizarre Adventureface alone.The anatomy and movement of horses are impossible to perfectly replicate andfeelthe weight and scale of the animal. Now, doing the same thing with a massive line of contestantseachwith their ownhorseis going to be a Herculean task. With a horse in almost every scene, using standard animation techniques for each horse is most likely not the best way to handle animating Part 7.
Luckily, 3D animation can help make the task of animating horses forJoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Runmuch easier. However, doing this will make the animation seem more disjointed and less appealing. Despite this, many fans point toPart 2: Battle Tendency, an amazingJoJo’s Bizarre Adventurepart, which features some well-animated CGI horses. In the end, the sheer volume of horses may be the most difficult part of animating the new part.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 7 is Extremely Detailed
Araki Gave it an Upgrade
Besides the horses,JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 7also features some of the best and most detailed artwork the series has ever seen. Compared toPart 1, the visuals ofPart 7have evolved so much over the years, especially in terms of featuring accurate anatomy and complex scenes. Ever since the switch to monthly releases, keeping up with Araki’s sheer quality of art seems to be more of an impossible task with each passing issue. This, combined with animation, already being impossible to not cut corners with, andPart 7could just be a disaster waiting to happen.
Additionally, on top of the upgraded art,JoJo’s Part 7also has some of the most visually complex powers the series has ever seen. Between animatingFunny Valentine and D4C’s abilitywithout revealing too much information on the true nature of their power, or Mountain Tim and Oh! Lonesome Me’s complex anatomical manipulation, making these stands is another exercise in seemingly impossible animation. Additionally, animating the motion and concept of Spin, something central to the entire part, has worried some longtime fans. Capturing the proper movement of Spin, although easy on paper, may be much harder in anime form.
In the end, David Productions, the company thateven animatedJoJo’s spinoffs, hasn’t letJoJo’s Bizarre Adventurefans down in the past. It seems that, much like the manga itself, each part ofJoJo’sonly increases in quality over the years. In a few years, whenPart 7finally receives its official release, all the worries about the animation woes ofSteel Ball Runwill be a distant memory.
