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.

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 the "last man standing" sound of the plot, hyperbole from the box, or shoujo heritage fool you. Despite ample opportunity for things going bump in dark hallways, long, overly tense scenes, cheesy heroism, overblown melodrama, and gender-bending romance, it sticks to its sci-fi guns. The drama flows naturally from group interplay and the focus is on people using their wits and technical skills to get themselves out of difficult situations.

The plot moves along at a comfortably brisk clip, never bogging down or rushing through things. The conclusion is a little weak in comparison to the gripping middle stretch, but it is still solid, satisfying, and makes sense. That's a real relief, given the penchant for sci-fi anime of this vintage to go haywire at the end.

The story is tinged with mystery and unease supplied by the palpable uncertainty of the situation and the huge, empty ship that Tada--our hero--has an inexplicable knowledge of. But, the tension is restrained enough that it doesn't overwhelm the characters, instead gradually building toward the film's climax.

In the interim, there's an appropriate amount of drama, and some interesting interplay between a few of the characters (especially the gender-ambiguous Frol), but neither past what's reasonable. The drama feels believable for a group of people with a variety of personalities stuck on a derelict space ship, doing their best to get the thing running and overcome a series of accidents and minor disasters that befall them. Similarly, the characters don't forget that it's just a test, albeit a very important and rather dangerous one.

The cast of characters is a reasonably interesting group; either human or humanoid aliens, they represent a wide variety of personalities and cultural backgrounds. From the king of a country, to a stoic scaled alien from a world where fate is all-important, to the orphaned village boy the film follows, each of the eleven is distinctive and for the most part believable. About half of them get most of the attention, but the others aren't ignored--they're just not the sort who tend to take on leadership roles. There's a satisfying sense that everyone is involved in the effort--a couple of points where a straight vote is taken are a nice touch.

Another strength of the characters is that their distinctive cultural backgrounds, while reflected in their personalities and occasionally relevant to the plot, aren't laid out in an info-dump. Someone will occasionally explain what their culture is like in answer to a question, and there are a few conflicts of style, but both seem quite natural. Likewise, the camaraderie and hint of (appropriately odd) romance are never cheesy or forced.

I also liked that the cast is given time to just talk, and even have a bit of fun. These lighter moments are never forced, so they don't ruin the drama--just enough to keep you believing that these are regular folks who lighten up occasionally.

There's also a 12th character: The ship itself, both the characters' temporary home and enemy. I personally love stories involving huge, old space ships, and They Were 11 has a marvelous one. A massive derelict, it is eerily empty (although more could have been done with that) and full of semi-functional systems, yet is still a working piece of machinery. Its slightly creepy character is enhanced by the mystery of exactly how the ship came to be abandoned and floating dead in space.

The movie's only significant weaknesses are a few spots where the characters don't seem to act as intelligently as they should and its age. Tada, for example, doesn't seem to be as forthcoming with information as you'd expect him to be, and considering that they're supposed to be the best of the best, the group is a little quick to jump to conclusions or avoid the use of a little logic. At least their decisions seem to be backed up (after the fact) by events, and I'm willing to write their hastiness off as inexperience outside of book learning. Most of the science involved in the fiction works, but there are some questionable things that come up about the whole situation once you've seen the end if you pick at it.

In terms of feeling dated, the issue is mostly visual, but apparently gender equality hasn't fared too well in the distant future--they're downright shocked when one of their number appears to be a woman.

Visually, They Were 11 is a product of the mid-80s, but don't let that turn you off--it isn't nearly as weak as it initially appears. It does suffer from some of the anemic coloring endemic to that era, and the animation is fairly choppy at times, but that's the worst of it. The old-school character designs are the only part of the production where its shoujo roots are visible, but are reasonably good looking and feature a distinctive, slightly blocky look. The art is decent, and the character animation is surprisingly good in several scenes--Frol's expressive antics, for example. The appropriately dark background art is good as well, and the mechanical designs, entirely within the ship after the opening sequence, are also surprisingly good. Aside from some (not unrealistically) bland rooms, there are plenty of cool locations--the huge, dark engine room overgrown with plants used for wiring (neat imagery), the old-school bridge, and the hulking, boxy exterior.

The acting in Japanese is solid but unremarkable, and while the casting is a little broad (especially some of the minor characters) it is believable enough. Two of the better performances are the King, whose strong but somewhat abrasive personality comes through well, and Tada, who is likable without being goofy. Michiko Kawai's Frol is the only real standout, though--the relatively feminine voice but entirely unfeminine dialect and rough manner of speech feel natural and go well with the juxtaposition of Frol's appearance and personality. Unfortunately, the subtitles, though literally accurate, don't effectively capture just how rough his dialogue is--when one character comments that he "swears like a stormtrooper" it's accurate, but doesn't really agree with what you've been reading.

The background music is unremarkable. A bit cheap sounding and cheesy on occasion, but at least it doesn't seem out of place with the exception of a slightly overblown scene at the end. The end theme song is pleasantly generic, and there is another brief vocal piece in the middle that is similar.

They Were 11 has a few small flaws and is a tad dated, but when it comes down to it is thoroughly enjoyable science fiction. The characters are interesting, it offers an effective blend of suspense, mystery, and classic sci-fi teamwork, the briskly-paced plot keeps you guessing, and the whole production is solidly put together. If you like Star Trek-style science fiction, are a fan of classic anime movies, or just want to try a slight change of pace, They Were 11 comes highly recommended.

Related Recommendations

Odin immediately comes to mind as a similar movie; it's about the same age, has a similar style, and also features a crew of people on a ship out in space, but it's actually somewhat different in theme and story. The most similar in general theme would probably be Mighty Space Miners, though that series is considerably cuter than this movie. More in the horror direction, Lilly CAT and the weird Roots Search have some similarities.

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