JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
JoJo's Golden Spirit, Steel Ball Run Anime, and the Creators Behind Both
A new mobile game brings 50-plus characters to phones, the manga's long legacy sets up the anime's race arc, and composer Yugo Kanno and director Noriko Dohi share how they shaped the sound and speed of JoJo's next chapter.
Golden Spirit Brings 50+ Characters to Phones
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Spirit officially launched on August 13, 2026, and is now available through Google Play and the App Store in multiple countries. The game spans the franchise's generations, featuring more than 50 playable characters from Phantom Blood through Stone Ocean. Players can combine protagonists, allies, and rivals from different parts to build custom teams, a crossover mechanic that's rare for the series in a single game. The roster draws on decades of source material, giving fans a single app where Part 1-era Jonathan Joestar can team up with Part 6's Jolyne Cujoh. The publisher is Wanda Cinemas Games, a Beijing-based company that's previously handled licensed titles like Saint Seiya: Legend of Justice. For a series known for its shifting casts and settings, Golden Spirit treats the whole timeline as one playground.
Launch Campaign Hands Out SSR Jotaro and More
To mark the launch, Wanda Cinemas Games is running a campaign that gives players a special SSR Jotaro Kujo through a dedicated summon. That's the Part 3 version of Jotaro, the one from Stardust Crusaders, and he's tied to a character story event that follows his journey through that season. Mini-games are part of the event, letting players engage with the Cairo-to-Japan road trip in bite-sized challenges. Login campaigns reward additional characters based on days played, so even casual players can bank a few unlocks without spending. Pre-registration milestone rewards included SR Joseph Joestar and other in-game items, meaning anyone who signed up early already has a head start. The campaign is structured to push players through the game's first week, with the SSR Jotaro serving as the hook for new accounts.
Wanda Cinemas Games: The Publisher Behind Golden Spirit
Wanda Cinemas Games, a Beijing-based company founded in 2011, publishes Golden Spirit. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of Wanda Pictures in 2016, and focuses on online game development. Its prior releases include Saint Seiya: Legend of Justice and The Legend of Qin, both licensed adaptations. Golden Spirit launched on August 13, 2026, on Google Play and the App Store across multiple countries, and features over 50 playable characters spanning Phantom Blood through Stone Ocean. A launch campaign offers a special summon for SSR Jotaro Kujo, plus a character story event and mini-games following Stardust Crusaders. Login campaigns reward additional characters based on days played, and pre-registration milestones granted SR Joseph Joestar and other in-game items. This pattern of turning established anime and TV franchises into mobile experiences suggests that for JoJo fans, the publisher's work on Saint Seiya, another long-running Shueisha property, may inform Golden Spirit's monetization and event structures.
Steel Ball Run Anime Dates and the Manga's Long Legacy
Hirohiko Araki's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure began serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1986, and the franchise hasn't stopped since. The ninth part, The JOJOLands, started serialization in 2023, keeping the manga alive alongside the anime. The anime's most recent installment, Steel Ball Run, released Part 1 on March 19, 2026, and Part 2 is scheduled for weekly streaming starting in Fall 2026. That Part 1 covered a crucial chunk of the story—the first episode alone runs 46 minutes and focuses entirely on a horse race, with no Stands at all. The release schedule has a six-month gap between parts, which producer Noriko Dohi explained as a necessity due to the intensive animation work on the opening race. For newcomers, Steel Ball Run is often called a fresh restart because it's set in an alternate universe with new characters like Johnny Joestar.
Yugo Kanno's Composing Process: Finding the Core
Composer Yugo Kanno, who has scored JoJo parts three through six, returned for Steel Ball Run. He said his process starts with locating the core of the story or character—the message Araki-sensei embedded in that part. Once he finds it, he can 'hear the music' from the manga, storyboards, or script. For Steel Ball Run, that core is a growth story, set against the great American continent. He noted that the main theme, 'Dance with Steel Ball Run,' is built on two important melodies representing Johnny and Gyro. Unlike previous parts where music returned when a character defeated an enemy, the race format changes the musical structure entirely. Kanno described the pressure to surpass his past work, saying it's a battle every time. He also revealed that Shohei Ohtani used his music for warm-ups again in 2026, after doing so the previous year, and that Kanno's thank-you tweet became news in Japan.
Noriko Dohi on the Race Episode
Producer Noriko Dohi explained that the first episode of Steel Ball Run Part 1 was a special case—it took six months to produce. The episode is purely a horse race, with no Stands, and the team deliberately shifted away from the typical JoJo fighting structure. She noted that the staff focused on the scale of the backgrounds and shots with masses of horses, using wide shots that would normally be broken into multiple camera angles in a regular film. That, combined with Kanno's music, made the episode something you 'run straight through,' she said. Dohi also addressed the six-month gap between Part 1 and Part 2, saying the staff worked hard on the race and then went back to improve it further. She confirmed the decision to release Part 2 weekly, a contrast to Stone Ocean's binge-release model, and said feedback from fans at Anime Expo supported that choice.
Kanno's Anime Expo Moment: Seeing JoJo's Global Reach
At Anime Expo 2026, Yugo Kanno performed and saw firsthand how much JoJo is loved overseas. He said that in Japan he'd been told about the franchise's international popularity, but feeling it at the LA event was different—'seeing it through my own eyes and feeling it on my own skin while I was on stage' made him very happy. That connection came through music that Kanno had already shaped to carry JoJo's DNA of muscular energy and high fashion, which he compared to Maison Valentino's creative director Alessandro Michele. He also mentioned that the world and location of each part play a major role in his compositions, and for Steel Ball Run, the American setting and horse-riding characters demanded a shift. His interview at the expo was part of a round-robin session where he and Dohi fielded questions from outlets including Anime Herald and The Fandom Post.
Source material: animecorner.me — this piece is based on that published source material.
