JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Fans Need To Watch This 10/10 Anime

4 days ago 7

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Steel Ball Run Promo Image

Published Apr 19, 2026, 2:00 PM EDT

Joshua Edward Ryan Fox is a freelance writer for Screen Rant with a passion for pop culture. Joshua grew up in Connecticut where he developed an appreciation for writing and entertainment and has earned a Master's degree in professional writing and technical writing. His writing has been quoted by both the anime streaming site Crunchyroll and the anime YouTuber Gigguk.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is the biggest it’s been in ages, and that makes it all the more ironic that fans are having such a hard time engaging with it. While the long-awaited premiere of Steel Ball Run was a smash hit with fans and critics alike, the fact that it was only one episode was nothing short of deflating, and even though it’s been confirmed that Steel Ball Run will release weekly in fall 2026, the fact that Netflix took so long to clarify that was still annoying to see.

Why Daemons Of The Shadow Realm Is The Perfect Substitute For JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

If there’s any anime that JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fans need to be watching right now, it’s Bones Film’s Daemons of the Shadow Realm. The series is a supernatural action story centered around powerful entities called Daemons, and much like Stands, they all have unique, and often bizarre, powers and appearances, not to mention being invisible to anyone who doesn’t also possess Daemons, although Daemons always come in pairs as opposed to people in JoJo only ever having one Stand at a time.

The similarity between Stands and Daemons is hardly superficial, of course; not only do fights between Daemons and their masters also tend to center around who can make the most creative use of their powers, thus allowing for consistently engaging fight choreography where there isn’t always a clear winner, but unlike Stands, Daemons can be hurt by things other than Daemons, so there’s even more for the characters and the audience to take into account with every fight.

It’s hard not to look at Daemons and compare them to Stands, and that’s nothing but a compliment for Daemons of the Shadow Realm. Add in how so many Daemons are themed around Japanese mythology and an incredibly intricate mystery story that still hasn’t played all of its cards after so many years, and Daemons of the Shadow Realm has essentially taken JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’s aesthetic to places no one would have ever thought of in the best of ways.

Daemons Of The Shadow Realm Dropped At The Perfect Time For JoJo Fans

Key visual for Daemons of the Shadow Realm

As previously discussed, Steel Ball Run won’t begin in earnest until fall 2026, and with that announcement only coming after Netflix put out a single episode and waited a long time to clarify the release cycle, it’s been hard for JoJo fans to feel as excited for Steel Ball Run as they should. As such, having an anime that’s not only reminiscent of JoJo’s aesthetic, but also advances it through a unique narrative and strong character writing, is nothing but a blessing, and Daemons of the Shadow Realm perfectly fills that niche.

Yuru in Daemons of the Shadow Realm poster

With all the same strong action and plotting that made Fullmetal Alchemist a legend, Daemons of the Shadow Realm is already an amazing anime in its own right, and with its clear overlap with such an iconic anime as JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, that somehow makes it even better to watch. Daemons of the Shadow Realm is poised to be one of the best anime of the spring season, if not the year, and if someone’s a JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fan, they would be especially remiss to pass it up.

Daemons of the Shadow Realm releases new episodes Saturdays on Crunchyroll.