Whether it’s 2022’s Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, 2023’s Delicious in Dungeon, or other brand-new anime yet to debut, Netflix has had impressive success despite a lower volume of releases compared to its competitors. But one particular, instant success, was JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’s return with Steel Ball Run, its first installment garnering acclaim. But this success was followed by a major asterisk. Instead of following in the footsteps of Steel Ball Run’s predecessors, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is digging deeper into its Original Net Animation (ONA) format by releasing longer episodes, spaced apart, based on the manga’s “Stages”.
Naturally, the fandom hoping for the anime’s return on a weekly basis took negatively to this, albeit to an unforeseen scope. Despite the “Steel Ball Run” episode adapting the 1st Stage portion of the anime’s titular race, with it briefly shooting the latest JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure anime to the top of MyAnimeList, fans were dismayed by no release the following week. Then, with the confirmation of an ambiguous “2026” release window for the 2nd Stage episode, reality sunk in, setting off the most appropriately bizarre meme movement possible for JoJo’s fans to date.
Featuring what can only be described as “Johnny Joestar King Von Anti-Piracy” memes originating from December 2024, the Steel Ball Run OVA-style release schedule set off an aggressive campaign by fans to call out Netflix on its vague roadmap for the acclaimed anime. Under virtually any Netflix Anime social media post, these memes follow alongside a crescendoing call to boycott the service, or potentially pirate the anime. Screen Rant has reached out to Netflix for comment, and while it’s a hot topic, the streaming service has declined to comment on the matter at this time.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Fans Threaten to Boycott Netflix Over Steel Ball Run Schedule
While it’s unlikely for one particular niche to sway the biggest subscriber-based streaming service in the world, it’s frankly astonishing to see how quickly these memes dominate JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure topics or topics put out by Netflix. From reply chains chock-full of cursed JJBA edits, to Reddit threads calling fans to action ad nauseam, these posts can reach hundreds of thousands to potential millions in impressions.
A new Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure figure depicting Joseph Joestar is catching some heat from fans, including the creator of the Devil May Cry series.
This has even perfectly tied in with this year’s usual April Fool’s shenanigans, for which anime leakers take particular glee in trolling their followers either with the worst news imaginable, or cheekily posting what the fandom’s most obnoxious supporters are craving. Such is the case with AniTV on Twitter, whose prank was a false confirmation of the anime’s weekly release going forward, followed by a call to post the Johnny Joestar edit memes in Netflix’s replies.
With Netflix and the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run production committee not helping matters by not dropping release windows for subsequent stages, though, it’s understandable to an extent why this is happening. Formatting aside, it’s a fair concern among fans, some of whom may very well have subscribed only for new installments of the series.
Steel Ball Run’s OVA-Style Episodes Aren’t the Issue, Its Ambiguous Release Pattern Is
With JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run clocking a 48-minute runtime, and without a weekly drop of new episodes, it’s clear Netflix and David Production are setting up the series for staggered drops for each of its nine stages. However, as fans on Reddit have noted, while this has worked for acclaimed OVAs in the past, it also meant potentially years for the full batch to be completed.
With anime fans forced to wait for undisclosed amounts of time, it’s important to note that, should each episode have the quality of the first, it could be a wild ride ahead. But on the other hand, unlike the OVAs of old times, the only legitimate way to watch JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run, for now, is to be a Netflix subscriber. Quality of its eventual releases aside, with no real roadmap ahead for future installments, it’s understandable for JoJo’s fans to be upset or even unsubscribe until the full run is fully available. But this remains unlikely given the service’s broad offerings, and this idea has gotten pushback even within the rest of the JoJo’s community.
This uncanny boycott campaign is largely ineffectual posturing for now, with JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run’s production proceeding at the healthiest pace possible for its team. It’s something Netflix is obviously keenly aware of, but it appears the service is pushing on undeterred, even with its messy execution. Should the rest of the series truly be as excellent as its first stage, however, it has strong potential to be worth the wait. But as patience grows thinner, any disappointing future installments will only make things worse.