#They Were 11

[fujikosouvenir]

Moto Hagio's "Jūichinin Iru!" (They were 11!) - 1975

[gilbertscocteaus]

based off a conversation with my friends

[karafina]

frol and tada <3

[otakween]

They Were Eleven, Continued: Horizon of the East, Eternity of the West (Musical)

This is such a weird manga to adapt into a musical. Like...an obscure sequel of a shoujo scifi from the 1970s? Why not! I can only assume it's more popular than I'm aware of. Then again, a lot of weird stuff gets adapted in Japan and that's part of what I love about Japanese media.

I definitely enjoyed this more than the all male production I previously posted about which covered the first book. This had the benefit of being a musical (which I'm a sucker for) and for having better aesthetics. Also, I think the sound quality was better because I had a far easier time understanding the unsubtitled Japanese. They had the budget.

Notes:

Very interesting to see an all male production and an all female production back-to-back like this with the same characters. I think it might be easier to pull off gender bending with an all female cast. So many women voice male anime characters that my brain is more easily convinced that they're playing a dude lol. I'm new to watching stage plays like this though, so not a very big sample size with which to judge.

I know absolutely nothing about Morning Musume other than that they're a big idol group that's been around forever. I have many questions. (How often are they cycled out? How many girls are there?) My primary question is...does singing ability matter or do they just scout cute girls? Some of the singing in this production sounded kinda...flat. I don't want to be mean but yeah, I couldn't help but notice.

The less than stellar singing might not really be the girls' faults because the songs were also just kinda awkward. Not terrible, just not very memorable. Every song kinda sounded the same to me and there weren't any huge standouts. The choreography was also very cheesy and melodramatic, but that was fun haha.

The special effects and costuming were really good (hair too). I could more easily distinguish between the characters this time. As for SFX I was impressed by the scene where the paper that the bad guy's holding catches fire. I was like "woah! How'd they do that?" lol

This diva:

My eyes were zeroed in on them whenever they were on screen and I was convinced "is this some token male that they invited to be in the show?" I did some research and they're that convincing because they're a former Takarazuka actress. Anyways, they're hot (and I'm dumb) lol.

The dance moves really made me laugh at times. A lot of arm wiggling mostly. There was one part where one girl had to spin in a circle while singing and her voice wobbled up and down haha.

Felt really bad for the actress playing Frol because her wig kept getting stuck on her face 😬

(She's stronger than me because I would be wiping my face with my hand constantly).

I don't know what a stage scream should sound like but some of the screaming in this was a little overdone I think. Like, too realistic or something? Kinda cool but out of place.

I really wonder if the audience was full of more They Were 11 fans or Morning Musume fans. I was a little concerned that the latter would be lost but then I saw that they did a recap/explanation before the musical for the uninitiated. I think I'd still be confused if I hadn't read the manga though lol.

It's authentic to the manga but it's kinda funny how this story becomes the Tada & Frol show when its not even their story. Like, poor King, stop upstaging him!

Tada and Frol share a stage kiss at the finale. I was like "boo! Kiss for real you cowards!!" but I get it. These young girls should do what make them comfortable. (How young are they exactly? I don't even know...)

So yeah, that's a wrap on They Were 11! For now anyways. There's actually a live action film and a drama CD, but I couldn't find those anywhere. I feel like I've become more knowledgeable about anime history :)

[kamievakiss]

just finished with They Were 11 ! some pages I loved :0 I absolutely adore Frol, his decision at the end really went against his character tho imo and made me really sad !! fwnbaw

[lanaphernelia]

[jado-kun]

[hinamie]

spiraling

[aerialworms-art]

Lifespans.

(ID under cut)

[Image ID: A three-way venn diagram floating against a starfield. The circles are coloured; one yellow, one light blue, one a darker shade of blue. The yellow is the smallest, the two blue ones over double its size, with the darker blue the biggest. The yellow is half covered by the two blue circles, while it takes up a small amount of the two blues. The centre overlap between all three is labelled "the precious few years we three were together".

There is very little overlap between the yellow and the darker blue without the lighter blue.

The work is signed 'aerialworms'./End ID]

[cthulhum]

does anyone realize how crazy it is to have the actor of a mostly headcanoned queer ship say the fans were never crazy and they were right all along after 10+ years of everyone just absolutely going nuts over the said queerbaited ship

[dailyheavymedic]

day 10

[otakween]

They Were 11: Horizon of the East, Eternity of the West

This is the sequel manga to "They Were 11." Another one shot with even fewer chapters than the first (nice). It honestly felt like highly condensed epic. Moto Hagio packed so much into a tiny volume and I salute her. This seems ultra obscure to me in 2024, but it got its own stage adaptation, which shows it had staying power in Japan. Glad to be introduced onto this hidden classic :) (see, going through all of MAL blindly has its perks!)

Ch. 1

Damn that was one chonky chapter! Really good though. I think a true sci fi aficionado would laugh at me if I called this "high sci fi," but it was very lore heavy for me. And I love lore so I was riveted lol

I think this was a really smart direction to take for a sequel manga. The scope feels somewhat narrower since they're focusing on one of the eleven's planets. If this series was bigger I think I would have enjoyed other such spin-offs on other planets. Learning about space culture is fascinating haha.

This chapter was religion and politics heavy and they're intertwined on King's planet because it's theocratic. It's funny because most of the characters don't actually seem to believe in their own religion? They kept mentioning that the phenomenon that decides their ruler is probably just a natural occurrence rather than a sign from God. It seems like they play along when it benefits them...oh wait, that's just how it works in the real world LOL (jk, I know some people actually believe in their religions wholeheartedly IRL)

Lots of talk of progressives and conservatives which felt too real 😭 This fan translation was really good by the way! I can tell that some lines were localized really smoothly (like injecting slang and English expressions very naturally).

Funny seeing that Tada and Frol haven't changed much (well, not much time has passed). Frol's personality kinda reminds me of Miss Piggy or something. Very hot headed. I found them annoying in the OG manga but at this point, I see their appeal. They started this chapter as she/her and ended as he/him. It was really funny how much more popular they were as a boy. Accurate 😂

Why does Tada and Frol's pilot school just casually have a Goddess in their faculty? This series seems a little confused about how mystical it wants to be.

The thought of two planets wanting to go to war but both of them are too poor to do so is kinda a funny image (yet they found a way to go to war anyways I guess)

We get some Tada x Frol fluff and while Frol is in boy-mode no less :D <3

Frol declaring "we're here to pick up babes!" was really cute.

Ch. 2

The drama, the intrigue!! This chapter was mostly the gang on the run as fugitives but with also a big war-inciting incident. It honestly reminded me a lot of the current season of Arcane which I've also been watching as I read this. They both have this "point of no return" moment where it looks like there will never be peace between the two factions.

Although he's the "masculine one" I noticed that the mangaka puts Tada in some pretty girly looking outfits. It is a classic shoujo after all! Everyone looks ~fabulous~

Frol saying "YOLO" and crashing into the side of the academy building cracked me up.

I feel like the vibes of the Fourth being forced to poison the King feel very Shakespearean tragedy

We get another silly name with a woman named "Chu Chu" (how am I supposed to take her seriously? lol)

They nerfed Tada by making him instantly fall asleep after he uses his powers. I didn't really think they were OP enough to need nerfing, but okay...

Ch. 3

That was so majestic! Honestly, I didn't completely follow the (somewhat convoluted) plot but I don't think it mattered. All I really needed to know is who was bad, who was good, and that some corruption was goin down. Other than that, the vibes and the beautiful art did most of the heavy lifting.

This was kinda like the Fantastic Beasts sequels where the protagonists don't really have a reason to be a part of the plot, but they're there for the audience lol. Honestly, we could have probably just had this story just be all about King and his people, but I understand the desire to bridge the two stories with familiar faces.

Some of this gave me Game of Thrones vibes with the various kingdoms and politics. It takes place in space but felt smack in the middle of fantasy and sci-fi. Maybe because things were more planet-side this time around?

I really liked the design of the Priestess. She had an almost masculine look despite her really long hair. It was refreshing.

King marrying Chu Chu in the end was a little cheesy. Not everything needs to end with marriage -_- (well, it is shoujo...)

[lauraagrace]

This week I'm not talking about any anime news, but that's because there is so much fun manga news I wanted to gush about! 🤭

From the new Magical Girl Dandelion Cover to the 49th Annual Kodansha Manga Awards' Nominees, there are lots of things to talk about! 🤩

[arscorpii]

framed by pink roses

bonus (episode 11)

episodes 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 19, 27, 31, 36

[lschmidtartblog]

After school part-time cafe job