About

Steel Ball Run Episode 2 Release Date and Johnny Joestar Anti-Piracy Screen refer to memes about the unclear release date of the anime Steel Ball Run episode two on Netflix, inspiring the use of a reaction image of Johnny Joestar and other JoJo's Bizarre Adventure characters with red eyes staring forward threateningly, stylized like scary anti-piracy screens. The first episode of the series was released on March 19th, 2026, and the second episode's release date was not confirmed, inspiring the memes to go viral that month on sites like TikTok, Twitter / X and more.

Origin

On December 22nd, 2024, TikToker^[1] @luca.vg posted an anti-piracy screen meme, similar to memes like the King Von Anti-Piracy Screen, based on a drawing of Johnny Joestar with red eyes. The video gained over 612,000 views in a little over a year.

The first episode of Steel Ball Run, the long-awaited anime adaptation of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure part seven, was released on Netflix on March 19th, 2026. The second episode's release date was not made clear, and it was not released a week later, suggesting that the show will follow an irregular release schedule, as opposed to most other television shows.

The unclear release schedule inspired memes critical of Netflix, including memes that use the anti-piracy Johnny as a sort of threat towards the company. One early example is a meme posted by TikToker^[2] @kasuali_ on March 25th, 2026, about watching episode two in 2050, garnering over 971,000 views in five days.

Spread

Memes and posts about the vague release date of the second episode of Steel Ball Run became increasingly popularized throughout late March 2026. On TikTok, users began posting the Joestar anti-piracy screen meme under random videos along with comments about the release date.

On March 26th, 2026, TikToker^[3] @qjyxr posted a meme joking that the episode won't be released until 2036, garnering over 155,000 views in four days.

On March 29th, X^[4] user @Onilink_Z posted an anti-piracy screen meme in response to a post by the Netflix Anime X account, in which Johnny Joestar becomes distorted and wonders why Netflix forgot about him, garnering over 66,000 likes in a day.

That same day, TikToker^[5] @narcisoanalsui posted a meme that uses a scene from Family Guy in which Stewie represents Netflix and Brian represents the Johnny Joestar image haunting Netflix over the release date, garnering over 855,000 views in a day.

Various Examples

Template / Reaction Images

Search Interest

External References