Steel Ball Run Volume 3: I Don’t Remember This, Mrs. Robinson

We discover the race is using a point system, and we see Johnny still not take first place, even beaten, it seems, by Diego, even with Diego facing him and every other opponent’s wrath. Even worse, Gyro doesn’t get to celebrate long as he is given a penalty and demoted.

“They ask you how you are, and you just have to say you’re fine when you’re not really fine, but you just can’t get into it, because they would never understand.” 

Though, as the race goes on, we face a new enemy, and one it may seem Gyro needs help facing…Mrs. Robinson! Jesus really didn’t love him more than he will know after all as he downright annihilates my man, Gyro. He just beats, embarrasses, and blows his ear off for good use. Downright savage. Gyro, in the end, defeats him in iconic style, and we lead the journey.

As the chapters go on, we slowly find out Gyro’s backstory and the child he was supposed to execute and his attempt to give him amnesty by winning the race. Though, all those details are not yet revealed, but give it time. Though, Johnny tries finding more tea out, but Gyro creepily stops Johnny from taking much of a look at the newspapers. I love how the narrative plays its cards rather than revealing it all unabashedly.

After all this, we have some crazy family going after Gyro and Johnny and just terrorizing them with the rest of the volume, and then Mountain Tim shows up later and joins in this mess. One of the crazy things here is the morphing some characters go through, which is just crazy. I can’t even explain it. Look at this:

Gratefully, the pace of these chapters is a blast, and they fly by quite fast, thanks to many panels just being action. But the very well-detailed and exuberantly plotted action really kept me on my toes. Simply, I never put the volume down.

Another great thing about all this is how no characters other than Johnny and Gyro take the spotlight. Simply put, instead of sliding into the horrors a weekly or monthly chapter release can bring, this part shines through it with growth. In previous parts, it was almost expected to have random characters appear agonizingly and feel as though Araki just created them out of boredom or random interest and come off as throwaway to the narrative. Here, while the narrative never feels planned out, it feels as though the stars aligned for Araki. And in turn, he knew how to juggle side characters, thanks to the plethora of experience he had writing them, some based on some of his previous characters, now transformed into more realistic portrayals. I would compare it to an artist having the opportunity to rewrite their creation and fix it up. Here, that is what Araki does. Even more, I think previous parts suffer since it felt as though there was no purpose and we were just seeing people’s lives for a bit before plot happened. Here, there is a race that keeps it all on track always.

If it isn’t becoming clear yet, the biting realism this part has is starting to become more apparent. I would call this part the most human yet the hardest because, unlike every other part, including the later ones, Steel Ball Run feels the most personal for Araki. While other arcs felt like wacky metaphors for basic small concepts Araki thought of, here, it feels like Araki can be most bare and vulnerable about what he tried to say in Jojo. Life, God, and human existence. In other words, how to live life. Every character here is broken in a way, and throughout Steel Ball Run, and the race is almost their road to redemption you can say. Like life, you never know what you have, as some say, until it is gone. A path like life is one that burdens everyone. And here, we see glimpses of this behind the plethora of action. If I had to describe this part, it is about redemption, resolution, and understanding. And here, we are at the path of build up. A key in the heroes journey if only there was a hero here.

One thing this volume has, that a reread makes more clear, is all the hints at what’s to come. One particular one, that caught my eye, was the one of morality. Johnny is plain and simple “unforgiving” if you are his enemy. Gyro, on the other hand, plays an image but, in reality, he is not one to kill. And here, slight hints, I feel are present. Though, that could be me overreading it.

Imagine writing a debut novel. You set up the characters and the universe. The sequel novel is an almost representative of what later books will be like, but the first time you are managing an almost style to your writing since you’ve set up the universe and now likely need to get a better aim. The third novel is like this volume of Steel Ball Run. Now, Araki is a treadmill consistently hitting banger after banger chapters that play into the best qualities of this part, the horse race action and narrative, while presenting itself as a chapter of a novel almost. This chapter is the one where we are still managing the universe like in the in the previous volume, but unlike volume two, Araki is more casual. His writing is more at ease and, in other ways, growing. Simply put, maturity is felt.

I would call this part what Araki would make if he could do anything and fix anything about Jojo. There is a freedom and conciseness that feels like a show of talent for Araki who finally can just do anything now. Even better, there is a flow that feels perfect thanks to the choice of making it a race. It’s those brilliant little choices that make this part, and volume, a true delight.