Finished
“Orphan esper Tada faces sabotage accusations during Cosmo Academy's deadly 11-person starship entrance exam.”
They Were 11!
11人いる!
7.17
7,071 rank · 4,719 readers · 27 favorites
Shoujo
Space
Award Winning
Drama
Mystery
Sci-Fi
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Based on your preference for character-driven stories with layered emotional arcs, this title's exploration of identity and belonging would deeply resonate. The pacing mirrors series you've rated highly, and its thematic depth aligns with your appreciation for nuanced storytelling...
However, the slow initial episodes might test your patience given your history of dropping shows that don't hook you early. The art style shift in the middle arc could also be a concern...
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Synopsis
Orphan esper Tada faces sabotage accusations during Cosmo Academy's deadly 11-person starship entrance exam.
The elite Cosmo Academy attracts applicants from every stellar nation in the galaxy. One young hopeful is Tadatos Lane, an orphan esper from Terra. The final stage of the academy's entrance exam is a perilous mission simulation aboard an actual derelict starship. The applicants depart for the ships in groups of ten, but when Tada's crew arrives on the Esperanza, they are horrified to discover that they now number eleven. As the test progresses, things go awry and the atmosphere grows increasingly tense. The crew members begin to suspect sabotage, and Tada appears to be the likely culprit. (Source: MU)
What people say
Community consensus
Derived from 6 sampled reviews
7.0
/10
What 6 readers settled on.
67%
recommend
Score distribution
median 8
mode 9
σ 2.24
Agreement
Polarized
σ 2.24 · split reception
The polarity gap
4.5 pts
Recommenders 8.5 · others 4.0
Yes
No
Score over time
↓ 2.00
Running avg · Aug 2011 → Jan 2026
Snap verdicts
· shortest highly-rated reviews
- 9 “While Moto Hagio is usually considered one of the godmothers of BL it can't be ignored how much she pushed what science fiction was in manga back in the day. Heavily inspired by Ursula K. Leguin...”
- 7 “They Were Eleven is a manga that tells a more interesting story in one volume than some other manga tell in ten times that amount. It is a shoujo, but it doesn't fall for any of the usual tropes...”
- 9 “Just another typical shoujo manga.. no, wait. That was what I thought before reading it. Now I can say that this is one of the most unique shoujo mangas I've read. This fairly unknown and...”
Verbosity
Short · 33%
Medium · 33%
Long · 33%
Read Order & Related
Explore the They Were 11! universe
Cast
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A Manga Publication
- Format 4 × 1 ch × vol
- Total read 0h 32m approx
- Published Aug 1975 – Oct 1975
- Source Manga media type
- Ref. BS-M11889 catalog