They Were 11

Original Title: 11人いる!
Romanized: Juuichi-nin Iru!
Literal: There Are 11 [of Us]!

Plot Synopsis

In the distant future, humans have colonized many new worlds around the galaxy, and encountered many new races. After years of wars between planetary governments, a peaceful agreement was finally reached, and among its benefits is the exclusive Cosmo Academy, a school where the best of the best among spacefarers are trained. Young, orphaned Tada hopes to be one of the few lucky ones to enter the academy, but the final test will be something he never expected. He and nine other applicants are left on an abandoned space ship to fend for themselves for 53 days, and if they can manage, they pass. These ten expect to have their abilities tested on this ship, but there is one problem... there are eleven of them. Out of contact with their instructors, the applicants must wait out the duration of the test while overcoming the trials that the wrecked ship throws at them and wondering just who the 11th member of their team is... and why he's there.

Quick Review

Rating: 4 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2006-06-16

They Were 11 is a thoroughly enjoyable old-school sci-fi yarn seasoned with a touch of psychological thriller and the faintest hint of shoujo flair. Don't let its age or shoujo roots turn you off--it has a variety of creative mechanical designs, a collection of interesting, believable characters, and offers an effective blend of suspense, mystery, and classic sci-fi teamwork. The briskly-paced plot kept me wondering what was going to happen next, and the whole production is solidly put together. Add in a capable voice cast and a cool, massive, derelict space ship as the 12th character to round out the picture. The only things to complain about are the occasionally dated visuals, cheap musical score, and the occasional failure of the "best and brightest" characters to properly use their heads.

If you like Star Trek-style science fiction, are a fan of classic anime movies, or just want to try a change of pace from spacewar and mecha, They Were 11 comes highly recommended.

US DVD Review

USM's DVD has two things going for it: It exists (pleasing for a less-known older movie like this) and after a re-release is priced very attractively. Otherwise, it's functional but little more. It includes a slightly harsh-sounding Japanese stereo soundtrack and slightly better stereo English track, and a passible but somewhat soft-looking video transfer. The movie wasn't widescreen to begin with, so neither is the DVD, but the video is also unfortunately interlaced. The timing on the subtitles is a tad off, and while the translation isn't bad it takes some slight liberties. Since they apparently used the dub master, the credits only cover the English actors, but at least the song subtitles aren't hardcoded and the Japanese cast is listed on the package. Extras are limited to a short image gallery set to music and USM's trailers.

Content Guide

Very brief nudity, some violence, and a lot of emotional conflict justify USM's 13-up rating.

Violence: 2 - Not much overt violence, but some strong content in flashbacks.

Nudity: 2 - One very brief shot from behind in a shower scene.

Sex/Mature Themes: 1 - Some unusual themes, but little more than implied romance.

Language: 1 - Relatively mild, more so than it should have been were the subtitles completely accurate.

Notes and Trivia

Based on an award-winning 1975 manga story of the same title by Moto Hagio. It was translated into English in the late '90s, though that version is out of print now. There was also a sequel manga story published from 1976 to 1977.

This movie is not the only adaptation. NHK aired a live-action TV drama in 1977, and in 2004 the theater troupe Axle put on a stage adaptation.

As far as the story goes, the plaque on the statue toward the beginning of the movie is, surprisingly enough, in perfect English, and a rather cool dedication for a space ship. It was also a nice touch that nobody could read it (guess Star Trek was wrong--everybody won't speak English in a few hundred years).

A note on the temperatures: Since they are accurately translated as Celsius some US viewers might not have a good feel for just how hot it was. 40 degrees C is 104 Fahrenheit (brutally hot), and the 30-35 degree range that they spent much of the movie at is somewhere around 90 degrees F.

I love to pick apart the science part of science fiction movies, and although this one was solid enough by sci-fi standards, it did have a few subtle but significant flaws. For one thing, in the scenes without gravity in the intro, it was a bit too easy for the characters to get around; it was good that they were shown pushing off of things to get moving, and drifting down hallways is realistic, but it wouldn't be nearly that easy to stop yourself (for example, to get in the elevator). Similarly, when going up the elevator they would have been able to stand, but as it slowed and stopped, they would have been slammed into the ceiling.

Some of the orbital stuff is also questionable (this is a bit of a spoiler--skip if you haven't seen it yet). It probably wouldn't be that easy to drift out of orbit of a planet (even one that small) on account of a couple of explosions, and the major explosion that turned them around at the least wouldn't have put them back into orbit, and it also wouldn't have caused the ship to cool that quickly (since the cooling system wasn't working at that point). It would have made more sense had they just been stuck in a slower orbit so they would be on the bright side of the planet for too long. On the same topic, they also looked too close to the planet to be in a 52 day orbit, though it could be possible.

By the way (this is definitely a spoiler), although I was skeptical at first the virus thing more or less makes sense. It wouldn't have re-appeared on the ship since the accident since the orbit was (apparently) short enough that the temperature wouldn't have gotten that high until they were knocked out of their orbit and got too close to the star and/or didn't spend enough time on the dark side of the planet. That was backed up by what they were told at the very end (that the virus wasn't expected).

Availability

Available in the US on a budget-priced hybrid DVD from US Manga Corps. The DVD is a price-reduced re-release of a slightly older DVD version. There was a subtitled VHS version released way back in 1991 and still avaialble for quite some time, as well as a slightly newer dubbed version, both now out of print.

You can get the DVD from RightStuf for about $9 as of this writing.

Looking to buy? Try these stores: RightStuf (search) | AnimeNation | Akemi's a(nime)Store