Customer Reviews

They Were Eleven

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is in many ways a classic "who dunnit," and most of the pleasure of this movie is in discovering everyone's secrets, most especially the identity of the mysterious "number 11." The movie is quite involved with a complex, but not overly confusing, plot and surprisingly well developed characters. The pace is well chosen, frenetic when necessary and yet quite thoughtful when appropriate. My only concern was a few blatant translation errors. Two characters are referred to as "Hermaphrodites" because they have not become either sex yet. The proper term is "Androgonite." Similarly, one of the characters calls himself a "cyborg," despite having no technological parts whatsoever. Other than that, "They Were 11" is a very solid film with consistently clean and fluid animation. Even the voices are well chosen for the parts, and the dubbing is very high quality.

A constant problem with these kinds of movies is that in theory, the "odd man out" could be anyone, you can generally eliminate everyone from suspicion except for one or two people within the first ten minutes. While I was able to quickly dismiss several of the characters, I was genuinely in the dark until the final revelation. While I did find the end somewhat trite, with everyone getting a happy ending, I still enjoyed the movie immensely.

The largest flaw in the movie was the characterization of Frol. I can see where the director was trying to create a highly contradictory character to prepare for the revelation about her true nature, but to me the character just came off as aggressive and naïve, almost stupid. Some of the other characters were also weak (you have to wonder how people with such passive personalies can make it into such an exclusive university) but in general, I enjoyed the diversity of the characters. The characters greatly add to the replay value of the movie, which is also unusual for a mystery.

This movie is based off of manga by Hagio Moto. The final part of the elite Cosmo Academy requires ten cadets who have never seen or met one another to survive as a team for 53 days on a space craft. So trust and teamwork are a very imporant part of the exam. However, problems start to arise when the group discovers that they have eleven members on their team and that somebody is purposely sabotagin things. But who is it? And why are they doing it? The question then becomes can they survive as a team for 53 days when they don't trust one another.

This movie is an action/mystery/space/love story with a lot of interesting charecters, And you really get into it. There is little swearing, and half a second of nudity, which doesn't show anything but somebodies backside. I would recomend this movie. The ending is a surprise, And there is Cool Plot Twists.

I liked this picure overall. The tension of the situation had me rooting for the team to make it to the end of their challenge. I certainly couldn't guess who the extra person was. I do think I might have enjoyed a couple of female characters to even out the boys club but oh well.

I remember I bought this movie as a Used VHS copy from Blockbuster. It was a lucky find because I had no idea what an amazing film this truly is.

Each character is unique and memorable, and I even feel emotionally connected to them.

I was probably 12 years old when I first watched it, and I remember it was on my birthday, and I was bawling in tears because I found the story so sad. It's basically about what people do when they are faced with the fear of death.

I would compare the quality and breadth of this film to Grave of the Fireflies, although perhaps They Were 11 is not nearly as sad.

I even watched this film with a Japanese friend. She was not a huge fan of anime, thinking it was more for children; however, she said she loved the film. She hadn't seen or even heard of it before, but she found it quite spectacular, which says something I think coming from an actual Japanese person.

Do I recommend this film? I strongly recommend this film. It has a literary quality to it much like Lord of the Flies. Only think of it as taking place in Outer Space with Space Cadets instead of Children, with a hint of Agatha Christie because there is a secret one, perhaps a ghost, who is not supposed to be there on the mission with them.

I love this film! And I could not see myself parting with it as I can watch it over and over.

The story is about Ten young space cadets who are put onto a decommissioned spaceship as their final test. If they pass this test, their lifelong dreams of being valued people in their respective societies will come true. Their orders are to survive as long as they can with what they have. However, once they arrive at the decommissioned ship, they find that their crew has gained an eleventh member.
As the days pass, the eleven cadets must deal with their suspicions of each other as well as the sudden knowledge that the spaceship is in a decaying orbit around a star, which is causing the temperature on the ship to rise. With this rise in temperature, a sickness begins to spread among the crew as they work to stabilize their orbit and determine who among them is the spy.
This anime shows different people from different back grounds and races living in one environment, fighting one problem after another, which was the biggest one of them "suspicion". feeling the tension between the crew grows over time with no leads to who is that Eleventh person makes you sympathize with each one of them.
for a 1986 movie the Art is an aye candy, but it might be just me who like this style of art, but as i compared it to other classic anime from that time, "they were Eleven" was as good as it could be.
for the OST unfortunately i'm bad at remembering them from movies, but the ending song "Boku no Honesty" by Shinichiro Kawakami was a good closing to the anime, a nice quite song.
it's been a while since i'v watched a movie as good as this one, i pretty much recommend it to anyone who like classic space anime.

I saw it with my friends... It was COOL. Maybe not good for anybody under 12, because they wouldn't understand the plot.

A really entertaining short movie. You're never sure who is the odd man out and you end up guessing about it over and over. Has a nice ending too. This is another anime that should be part of any collection and the price it right too.

This is a classic anime an incredible story line with a perfect plot twist. Part of the reason I love anime.

the movie is good with interseting plot twists that i did not see comning .