The highly-anticipated anime adaptation of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’s Steel Ball Run arc debuted on Netflix last week and it’s living up to expectations, but after achieving a significant milestone, one corner of the internet is review-bombing the show.
Steel Ball Run is the seventh main story arc of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, originally created by Hirohiko Araki. It’s widely regarded as one of the series’ most acclaimed storylines, centering on a paraplegic jockey and ex-executioner as they race across America.
Episode 1 landed on Netflix on March 19 to rave reviews, with a 98% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 9.7/10 rating on IMDb. It also managed to make it to #1 on MyAnimeList, dethroning both seasons of Frieren.
When this milestone was announced last week, viewers made a prediction: “Frieren fans will probably start review-bombing JoJo like they did with other series.” And it looks like they may just be correct.
Steel Ball Run: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is getting review-bombed
Steel Ball Run Episode 1 previously had a 9.37 score on MyAnimeList – but this has since dropped to 9.25. Although it’s not a huge difference, it’s enough to push it to second place, behind Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Season 1.
Similarly, the 9.9 IMDb rating has dropped slightly to 9.7. While the overall scores remain notably high, a closer look at user ratings suggests a more polarized response, with a surge of perfect 10/10 scores alongside a noticeable number of one-star reviews.
Among the more negative reviews, one wrote, “Steel Ball Run’s high appraisal is, by every scientific metric, metaphysically impossible. In a way, the race sort of symbolises what SBR stands for: A *rushed* cash-grab, with the plot dragging behind it, being battered all over the ground.”
“I’ll keep watching, but I’m not holding out hope,” they added. “Once again, everyone lied to me. In a way, this situation feels like a microcosm of the modern anime community. Nobody can trust anybody.”
Another who gave it a one wrote, “The first episode of Steel Ball Run struggles to capture the magic of its predecessors, feeling surprisingly predictable despite its high-stakes racing premise.
“While the Western setting is conceptually unique for the franchise, the narrative beats in the premiere felt formulaic, lacking the tension needed to justify its slow pace.”
A third described the new TV show as a “glorified PowerPoint presentation wearing designer clothes.” As you might be able to tell from its overall score, the positive reviews far outweigh the negative, with countless 10/10 ratings and multiple fans referencing Frieren.
“As someone who has read Steel Ball Run, this is genuinely one of the best pieces of media,” said one. “I’ve watched Frieren, but SBR clears it completely out of the park. There is so much depth and emotion in this story, especially near the end, genuinely was so amazing.”
Anime fans slam review-bombing
Granted, the review-bombing isn’t as extreme as the recent battle between A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and Breaking Bad fans, but it’s enough to get a conversation going.
Following the news that Steel Ball Run had made it to the top of MyAnimeList’s chart, one wrote on Reddit, “In my opinion, it was an absolutely great episode, sure they skipped some parts of it, but I’m sure they’ll add it later like Sandman’s story etc etc, it was a great episode.
“And yeah some fans are review-bombing though it’s very less compared to Fire Force. But one single episode overthrowing a whole season of a series sounds absurd.”
Another commented, “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is my favorite, but MyAnimeList scores are just review-bombing. Frieren Season 2 came out and people already voted it 9.4 on MAL based on the first episode. Now those same people cry about Steel Ball Run being high.”
A third added, “New anime fans well reviews bomb everything they don’t like or give a 10/10 to anime. The whole situation is a farce since Frieren came out.”
NetflixThe OP added to this, pointing out the disparity between scores: “Bro I’ve seen people giving 1/10 in IMDb because they found the show good, and not like ‘absolute peak’. Just give like 5/10 or something, it’s either 10/10 or 1/10.”
Another agreed, “It’s either 10/10 or 1/10, it’s so funny like one side of people think it’s the greatest thing to ever exist and the other think it’s the worst episode, not a single rating in the middle, that’s how you know it’s review bombed.”
One person compared the situation to AKotSK and Breaking Bad, before summing up, “The moral of the story is – who gives a damn about ratings anymore, we should just watch something and see if we like it.”
If you want to decide for yourself, Steel Ball Run Episode 1 is streaming on Netflix now, although there’s no confirmed release date for Episode 2 at the time of writing. In the meantime, find out what to watch next with our 2026 TV show release calendar.
