The wait is over: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run 2nd Stage premieres on Netflix on 25 September 2026, with a new episode dropping every Friday. Warner Bros. Japan confirmed the date during the series’ panel at Anime Expo 2026 in Los Angeles on 3 July, alongside a new trailer and the first official character designs for three of the manga’s most anticipated figures.
Into the Devil’s Palm — What Stage 2 Covers
Stage 1 of the anime adapted the opening of Hirohiko Araki’s landmark manga with a measured, almost Western-drama pacing — long stretches of horse racing, growing rivalry between Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppeli, and the first hints of something stranger beneath the surface. Stage 2 is where Steel Ball Run stops pretending to be a period sports story.
Johnny and Gyro push deeper into the continent, arriving at the leg of the Steel Ball Run that crosses a roughly 750-mile Arizona desert passage known as the “Devil’s Palm.” This is Stand-battle territory: supernatural encounters, rival users with lethal abilities, and story developments that Araki fans regard as some of the best chapters he has ever written. Stages 2 and 3 together span 11 episodes total.
New Characters: Valentine, Mountain Tim, Hot Pants
Three characters fans of the manga have been waiting to see animated finally have official designs and voice actors:
Funny Valentine is voiced by Tomokazu Sugita — the 23rd President of the United States and the race’s most consequential shadow figure. Sugita (known to SG anime fans as Joseph Joestar in Battle Tendency and Gintoki in Gintama) is inspired casting: Valentine needs both quiet menace and a veneer of patriotic warmth, and Sugita can do both without blinking.
Mountain Tim, voiced by Tomoaki Maeno, is a lawman and fellow racer whose calm exterior hides abilities that put him directly in Johnny and Gyro’s path. And Hot Pants, voiced by Yōko Hikasa, is a masked racer whose true allegiances and Stand power make their arc one of Stage 2’s most memorable threads.
Watch the Official Stage 2 Trailer
Weekly Episodes Starting 25 September
After the backlash Netflix received for dropping Stone Ocean in batches, both Stage 1 of Steel Ball Run and now Stage 2 are following a weekly release structure. A new episode lands every Friday — which in Singapore time means Saturday mornings, a decent slot if you want to start your weekend with something that will make your jaw drop. The last of the 11 Stage 2-and-3 episodes will carry the story through to the end of 2026.
If you have not yet started Stage 1, it is currently streaming on Netflix. With two-and-a-half months before Stage 2 arrives, there is plenty of time to catch up and arrive at the Devil’s Palm fully prepared. Keep an eye on our manga and anime coverage for episode notes as the season unfolds.