Steel Ball Run Returns Tomorrow With Kroi's New 'SPIN' Opening

The six-month wait for the next chapter of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure ends tomorrow. Steel Ball Run's 2nd and 3rd STAGEs arrive on Netflix worldwide on September 25, with new episodes releasing every Friday. The run covers 11 episodes across the two stages and wraps up in early December, per Netflix's announcement.

The schedule is a break from how the last JoJo installment was handled. Stone Ocean arrived on Netflix in batch drops, but Steel Ball Run will settle into a weekly rhythm, a change confirmed at the show's panel at Anime Expo 2026, where the streamer said the second and third stages would air consecutively. A new trailer shown at the panel also gave the first look at the episodes to come. A refresher landed on September 22: a recap trailer going back over the 1st STAGE for viewers who need to catch up before the race resumes.

Kroi's 'SPIN' opens the next stretch

The anime released its new opening sequence early, ahead of the September 25 return. The opening video, set to "SPIN" by the band Kroi, was scheduled for midnight on September 24 in Japan and is now public on the Warner Bros. Japan Anime channel. In a statement, the band connected the song's Western influences to the series' long race and its desert landscapes.

Kroi has anime themes on its resume already: the band performed opening songs for SAKAMOTO DAYS and the Liar Game adaptation, Anime Corner reported. "SPIN" is the first new opening for the show's next stretch of episodes, arriving just before Johnny and Gyro return to the race.

From one episode to a weekly rhythm

The unusual rollout of this adaptation started in March. Steel Ball Run premiered on March 19, 2026 with a single 47-minute episode covering the 1st STAGE of the race, then went quiet for months. The wait split the fanbase: some fans were frustrated the season did not run longer, while others accepted the production team's explanation that more time was needed.

Producer Noriko Dohi explained that this part of the story had been "difficult" to produce, with the horse racing animation proving especially tough. The extra time was meant to produce a more complete final version, and the weekly format restores the shared viewing schedule that helped earlier JoJo seasons build momentum. New installments arrive each Friday with Japanese and English-language audio, so fans can watch each new episode together as it drops.

New riders enter the race

The returning episodes introduce three characters that manga readers have waited years to see animated. Tomoaki Maeno voices Mountain Tim, Yoko Hikasa voices Hot Pants, and Tomokazu Sugita voices Funny Valentine. The new cast was revealed at Anime Expo 2026, though English dub casting for these characters has not been announced yet.

Their arrival signals the story's turn toward conspiracy and open conflict. When the series paused, Gyro Zeppeli had won the opening stage of the race, and the next episodes move into the Devil's Palm, a desert crossing of roughly 750 miles where rival Stand users begin pushing the competition past the rules. Netflix has described the release as a split-cour run, with the second stage beginning in autumn and one new episode arriving each week.

The race so far

Steel Ball Run is the seventh part of Hirohiko Araki's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, the manga series that began in 1987, with this part running from 2004 to 2011. The anime shifts the franchise to an alternate 1890s America, the first JoJo part to break from the main continuity. It follows Johnny Joestar, a former jockey who lost the use of his legs, and Gyro Zeppeli, an outlaw who draws Johnny into the competition. They enter a transcontinental horse race from San Diego to New York with a $50 million prize, then discover a deadly conspiracy unfolding around the contest.

David Production animates the adaptation, with Yasuhiro Kimura and Hideya Takahashi directing, Yasuko Kobayashi handling series structure, Daisuke Tsumagari on character design, and Yugo Kanno composing the music. All are JoJo veterans returning from earlier installments. The weekly schedule is a departure from how Netflix released the previous JoJo installment, Stone Ocean, as reported by ComicBook.com. (ComicBook.com)