11-nin Iru! (They Were Eleven)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: They Were 11, Juuichinin Iru!

Japanese: 11人いる!

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Information

Type: Movie

Episodes: 1

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Nov 1, 1986

Producers: Kitty Films

Licensors: Central Park Media

Studios: Magic Bus

Source: Manga

Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Romance, Sci-Fi

Theme: Space

Demographic: Shoujo

Duration: 1 hr. 31 min.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 7.08¹ (scored by 5,102 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #3976²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #5884

Members: 12,176

Favorites: 42

Resources

AniDB

ANN

Synopsis

After the Interstellar Alliance established peace among most of the planets in the universe, they created the Cosmo Academy. The academy is renowned as the most elite school in existence, with its graduates guaranteed virtually any job they desire. However, one can only become a student if they pass the entrance examinations held every three years, making the competition for admission extremely fierce.

Lane Tadatos is a Terran who has managed to reach the final stage of examinations. Placed in a group of 10, he is sent to the Esperanza—a ship stranded in orbit. Their final test is to survive 53 days on the ship, without any means of communication with the outside other than an emergency forfeit button. But a serious problem emerges for the examinees when they perform a headcount. There are 11 people aboard the Esperanza, meaning that one of them is an impostor.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

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Related Anime

Adaptation:

11-nin Iru!

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Frolbericheri, Frol

Main

Kawai, Michiko
Japanese

Tadatos, Lane

Main

Kamiya, Akira
Japanese

Ni, Toto

Supporting

Tarako
Japanese

Baceska, King Mayan

Supporting

Tanaka, Hideyuki
Japanese

Kacka, Chako

Supporting

Kashiwakura, Tsutomu
Japanese

Narrator

Supporting

Soldam IV, Doricas

Supporting

Furukawa, Toshio
Japanese

Groff, Glenn

Supporting

Ikemizu, Michihiro
Japanese

Carnais, Amazon

Supporting

Suzuoki, Hirotaka
Japanese

Tasta, Dolph

Supporting

Shioya, Kouzou
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Ochiai, Shigekazu

Producer, Planning

Tominaga, Tsuneo

Director, Storyboard

Dezaki, Tetsu

Director

Kase, Mitsuko

Episode Director, Storyboard, Assistant Director

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Opening Theme

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Ending Theme

"Boku no Honesty ( 僕のオネスティ)" by Shinichirou Kawakami (川上進一郎)

Reviews

Feb 15, 2021

Bizancio

Recommended

Excuse me, I don't usually write in English. If you want you can read my review in Spanish.

Although Moto Hagio is one of the most important authors of the Group of 24, along with others such as Ryoko Ikeda or Keiko Takemiya, due to her contributions to the shōjo manga, her extensive work has not found a niche in the extensive anime production. The only exception, of course, is the work that we are going to review at this time. A film that, although it does not adapt all the material of the manga, is an interesting piece within the mediocre set of medium-length and ... feature films of the 80s. It had no great luck with the studio because the animation is provided by Magic Bus. However, it is a film whose approach is attractive as it reminds us of a novel by Agatha Cristie with the particularity that the action takes place in space.

They were eleven (1986) is a film starring Tadatos and 10 other aspirants who want to enter the Galactic Academy, a training institution reserved for the elite. However, to pass the final test the examiners place on them, they will have to combine their survival skills and collaboration as they try to figure out who the phony among them is. In connection with this, the mysterious link between the protagonist and the spaceship where the test takes place will also be revealed. Is it really the stowaway of the ship?

As I have already said, the approach of the film may remind us of a mystery novel where there is a group of individuals locked up with a murderer. The spatial theme, on the other hand, leads us to think of feature films like Alien (1979). None really fits perfectly with what unfolds during its almost ninety minutes of footage. The "unexpected guest" factor leads to the existence of an impostor who seeks to assassinate the rest of the crew while he conceals his identity from him. But here what the "murderer" seeks is to discover if the applicants to enter the Academy have the necessary skills. For me, this particularity gives it extra points, since at least in the anime of the time there is no film or series with a similar idea.

When facing a test designed by an academic institution, it is to be assumed that the level of danger to which the characters are subjected cannot be very high. Otherwise, the candidates could die and it would not suit them. Without a doubt, the emergency button that is presented from the beginning helps to generate this idea in the viewer. If something goes wrong, everyone can press it and survive, even if that means suspending the whole group. However, the author did not fall into this error because in the course of the fifty-three days of living together a series of eventualities and setbacks not programmed by the Academy occur and that, therefore, put their lives at risk. The drift of the ship's trajectory, the red spot virus, or the possibility of the ship exploding all serve to add enough tension to the story. In this sense, the survival aspect seems to me more than correct.

Too bad my opinion is not so favorable regarding the mystery. At first, the author succeeds in trying to confuse us using the protagonist's memory loss. The fact that he knows the ship necessarily leads us to think that he was there previously and that the past events that explain the abandonment of the transport are related to it. Thanks to this distraction maneuver, the viewer distrusts the protagonist more than the rest. The problem with the mystery lies, however, in the scarcity of clues that lead us to discover the identity of the impostor. Virtually nothing that happens, except for the initial ruse of the stowaway, serves to get to him. If he had offered any clues as to who the telepath was, they would have helped us, but they didn't. Observing the immaturity of some characters, on the other hand, helped to rule out several for sure. But the impostor was among the secondary ones who hardly participated and were precisely not few. A mystery should give guarantees to be solved because otherwise it is of little use.

From my point of view, the film did not choose the best approach by placing a greater emphasis on mystery. The real key point of the film is in its message: the need that all passengers have to cooperate in order to survive, despite mistrust and the deep differences that distance them. A mission that is not easy at all because it requires learning to trust others and accept each other's differences. The play does a competent job of introducing us to the peculiarities of each of these characters because it spends part of its time allowing them to talk about their aspirations, their home of origin, the traits of their species, etc. It is as if in the same place people of different social classes, ethnicities and races were mixed, with all that that entails. Although this diversity is not so much the engine of the conflict as it is the fact that they are facing strangers, among whom one is an impostor who can be blamed for the problems they are going through. In any case, this fact greatly enhances the message of acceptance, union and cooperation. At the end of the film, the change of mentality in the crew crystallizes in an appropriate way, after an intense interaction and joint problem solving.

Before putting a full stop to the review I would like to mention a problem related to the group of characters. Although it was clear that the eleven could not count on the same attention, it is clear that about half are left over to tell the exact same story. Of the eleven passengers, less than half stood out enough for us to be aware of them. The participation of the rest was much less active and their characterization was very poor, almost inferring their characteristics from their appearance. A bug that could have been fixed by narrowing the group slightly and paying attention to them in a more balanced way. Being positive at least they contributed from a thematic point of view by showing that they are a very plural crew. Speaking of diversity, it manifested itself in matters of sex and gender roles with the hermaphroditism of Frol and Vidmenir or the position of men and women on the planet of Frol's comic relief.

You can read my review here: https://elarmarioanimados.blogspot.com/2020/07/resena-quien-es-el-11-pasajero.html

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May 11, 2017

Sidewinder51

Recommended

Rate a 9
English Dubbed
genres:action, mystery, thriller,science fiction

Slight intro to this movie without spoilers
Often we see/hear events/people but having a second thought is not really done. Although, when one is put into a important situation does one start to really care. Sadly, that tends to be a little too late. Luckily they have a life line to use but that is it exactly a 'life' line. And they only have 'one'.

Story
-Was a bit confusing at first but it made sense. It was an okay confusion because when it comes to science fiction anything most often something is made up and once your mind welcomes that idea ...

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Sep 5, 2019

LadyStardust97

Mixed Feelings

Here's my review: Frol deserved better.
I don't intend to unnecessarily bash things, and when I signed up for this website I told myself I would make a very strong effort to only contribute to the community in positive ways. So I'm going to try to say a few nice things about this movie, and I don't want to come off as mean-spirited.
I do not recommend this movie. If you've read the summary and you're intrigued by the premise, go watch LILY C.A.T.. It will be a far more fulfilling experience.
I initially heard about this movie through reading about Moto Hagio, who I'm a fan ... of. Hearing that she contributed the concept character designs, I was initially excited. That excitement was not to last.
While the movie has many interesting concepts and serves as a fairly typical example of how vintage shoujo handled sci-fi, it's also got a severely mishandled plot and suffers from terrible pacing. You could cut out about half of this and not miss anything; it should've either included more character drama/exploratory sci-fi elements, or been pared down to a shorter runtime.
Furthermore, and I'm loathe to drag this word out, it is offensive. People interested in gender politics and transgender issues will find themselves mortified and disgusted by its incredibly dated and clumsy handling of the issues, while people not interested in those topics or scornful of them will be irritated by them taking up a good chunk of the plot (in what is best referred to as a "romantic plot tumor"). It was incredibly uncomfortable to sit through certain scenes of the movie even though I had had friends warn me about them ahead of time (such as when Frol is walked in on while showering and outed against their will- this is played for laughs). Please know I'm not nitpicking a small sideplot here, the gender identity stuff takes up a pretty big chunk of the runtime and it's not just subtext, it's actively talked about (in frankly painful ways).
The art is pretty, and the animation is very good, though unfortunately it's weighed down by a bad plot. Some people might find the clothing design dated, but that particular aesthetic sense has always appealed to me. Some of the alien designs could've been improved upon and it's obvious that nonhuman characters are something that Moto had a bit of trouble creating.
The soundtrack is largely nondescript for its era, and I have trouble remembering specific songs. There were a few moments with good sound design, but overall it was unimpressive.
At the end of the day, this is a long, poorly paced slogfest that fails at suspense and dabbles in incredibly uncomfortable gender identity issues with the same measure of success.