11eyes

I just got done watching this anime and id have to say it was pretty good. Al the characters have real nice personalities and you really do feel for them, some. The plot is not bad even though to me it starts off a little slow then fills you in all at once later, so to me no build up but when you do get the info it makes since and to me was very intreging so it made up for the plot speed.

Reviewed: December 2012
Version: English sub

Although this adaptation of an adult-oriented visual novel makes the transition to anime fairly well, it really is only a mediocre series. At the heart of it, 11eyes is a tale of love, friendship, and hope centered around a small group of high school students who find themselves drawn at random times into an alternate world they call the Red Night, which is populated by dark spirits and other foes. Unfortunately, the series is fraught with problems, and what could be a great dark fantasy anime ends up being mediocre at best.

Part of the problem comes in the translation from eroge to anime. From what I’ve read, it appears the original game was more complex and detailed in plot development, character, and setting—as well as catering to the more prurient desires of its customers. In translation, however, from visual novel to animated series, it has become muddled. Feeling the need to retain some of the erotic overtones, the creators tossed in gratuitous upskirt shots and an annoying character who, as the ‘perverted friend’, serves the sole purpose of erotic comic relief. Alas, these scenes do nothing more than detract from the story and character development, which suffer from the lack of time devoted to them.

So, despite pretty good voice acting and good, if slightly rough, animation, the characters themselves end up being pretty generic, and it is easy to lose interest in them and the story, which itself, while being an intriguing concept, is not the best executed, being at times poorly paced, slow-moving (in fact, it takes half the series for the core protagonists to meet each other and come together as a group), predictable, and anticlimactic. What ends up carrying 11eyes along when the story wavers too much is the aesthetic: the noirish feel, the dark fantasy setting, the grotesque otherworldliness of the protagonists’ foes, the color schemes, and the exotic (although somewhat stereotypically so) Eastern European elements. Add to this some fast-paced action sequences and a stunning soundtrack and the series has enough to keep it from being a total train wreck; its strengths do prop it up to a level worth watching, and while it is by no means a masterpiece, it’s also not quite as bad as some of the harsher reviews suggest.

The breakdown

Story: 5

The story of the core group of protagonists (all, coincidentally, students at the same high school, and each with some special power) who have to figure out why they are being drawn into the Red Night and how to stop the phenomenon is fairly original and interesting as a concept. Unfortunately it is often poorly executed; while there are some surprises and plot twists, it is too often anticlimactic and predictable, and it suffers from poor pacing, with the scenes that develop plot and character being too often interrupted by fanservice and ecchi comedy that severely detract from the more serious nature of the storyline.

Character: 5

Most of the characters, both protagonists and antagonists, are stereotyped and lacking in any real depth, although depth is hinted at and could have been developed had less time been spent on the ero and ecchi aspects of the series. In addition, the overdeveloped ‘girliness’ of the fawning Yuka and the über-moe Yuki can be quite annoying.

Art: 8

The art is pretty good, although it and the animation both can be a bit rough at times. The overall style creates a dark effect that really adds to the series and helps draw the viewer in.

Sound: 8

Technically, there is nothing outstanding about the dubbing or effects. The musical soundtrack is the most remarkable element, with the opening and ending themes, performed by Ayane and Asriel, respectively, both being catchy pieces that fit the tone of the series and the dramatic score by Sakamoto Shoichiro really heightening the mood and setting the scene.

Enjoyment: 6

11eyes is not the easiest series to sit through, suffering at times, as mentioned, from poor pacing, muddled plot development, and generic and annoying characters; however, there is occasional mystery, surprise, and poignancy, and there is enough of a plot to keep the determined viewer interested; where these fail, the overall aesthetic helps keep the series drifting along.

Overall: 6.4
Final Score: 6/10 or 3/5
Grade: B

Rating: PG-13

11eyes is a dark fantasy adapted from an erotic visual novel, so expect both horror (death, blood, etc.) and sexual situations.

Language/Thematic Elements: Language is fairly mild throughout, and there aren’t too many thematic elements to be concerned about; the dark-fantasy setting and its inhabitants might disturb more sensitive viewers, but not to any great extent.

Violence/Gore: There is at least one scene of battle in nearly every episode; some of these contain graphic violence including stabbings and spurting blood, although an edited version of the series exists in which the most graphic bits are somewhat obscured by shadow.

Sexuality/Nudity: Considering that the series is based on an erotic visual novel, there is very little actual sexual content. There are, of course, the distracting gratuitous panty shots and random breast-fondling by the character Yuki, as well as occasional scenes of brief mild nudity (rear ends or breasts without nipples), and one scene of characters engaged in sexual intercourse, but it is fairly brief, tasteful, and non-explicit. The edited version obscures some of these shots.

Final words

+: a fairly original world with a mysterious and interesting, if somewhat underdeveloped, storyline and an overall aesthetic that draws the viewer into the dark fantasy world of the tale

-: pointless and distracting sexual situations and humor and a lack of strong, cohesive plot

Recommended to: fans of dark fantasy who don’t mind a series that places aesthetic over plot

Normally, I gravitate away from shows that feature ecchi or have a romantic overtone to them, but I found 11eyes to be enjoyable to watch.

The animation style isn't atrocious and the overall plot is good, albeit confusing sometimes with all the flip-flopping that seems to go around. The ecchi jokes and mannerisms are there, but they aren't excessive.

I do like that this anime is short because you get a pretty action packed adventure from episode one all the way until the ending. However, the reason I give this three stars is because I felt that the ending was a huge let down. Pretty anti-climatic, as a matter of fact. So, while the show alone is worth watching, viewers might be upset with the lack of a real ending.

This will be the first review i write about a serie.

I like the idea and story for this anime but the fact that they created a character that goes from a nice and shy into psycho is really a let down. I reminds me of the serie's School Days which ends up totally srewed. Good thing is they don't let it go that far and therefore this serie stay's ok to watch up until almost the end where they turn the script so bad and use the fact of parallel worlds to allow certain characters to die and bring them back again. In my opinion this only adds to the confusion and doesn't help to make it a better story.

All in all this is a ok series to watch, it has a few good laughable moments in the overal dark and voilent story.

This series is dark. What starts out as a typically normal high school drama turns 180 really fast.

The world transition kind of reminds me of the game Parasite Eve, when about to head into battle.

Storyline wise, some of the characters are cliche' but overall the story itself is awesome. The first half builds up the story and tension then flips it on its back for the last 4 episodes.

If you love dark storylines and surprising plot twits, you'll want to give this one a go.

Like my title suggests, 11eyes, is the epitome of when bad endings happen to good stories. It is a wtf moment, but you really don't need to think on it. You just have to say, "wtf" and move on. 11eyes has 2 endings. One dark ending in episode 11 and one more 'aw shucks everything is great' ending in episode 12. Personally, I think they both sucked. Some combination of them would have been preferable. Had the ending been better I would have give the anime 5 stars because up until the very end, I loved it. It didn't mean to marathon it, but I did. The animation is good. The story is basically solid. The acting is great. It's worth a watch to fans of the supernatural magical animes.

I haven't read the manga or played the game, but 11eyes seemed like a series I could get into. Apparently, I was wrong. I'd say this anime is comparable to Elfen Lied. (I hate Elfen Lied with a burning passion. I would say more, but then we'd get my full scale rant on how stupid it is. You become a mass murderer becuase you got bullied and saw your dog get killed? Really? How immature can you get? You were a bully victim, that in no way justifies mass murder. Go die in hole, you little [censored for the sake of keeping this clean]) Actually, no, it's infinitely better than Elfen Lied.
Story: 5/10
An interesting concpet, that has a lot of potential. But that's all there is to it.When I first read the description for 11eyes, it sounded very 'battle-royale'-esque. The first couple of episodes did a great job in conveying this, and I had high expectations.

Then the show goes downhill, or more accurately, plunges off a cliff. We're introduced to many new characters with lots of potential, but they are not properly explained, so this leads to many, many plot holes. The charaters are never fleshed out, nor do we get an explanation for why they are what they are, so the plot is completely skwed.

Nothing is happening because it makes sense for that that thing to happen, rather because of it's shock value. Events are occuring simply for the sake of then occuring. That does not sit well with me.11eyes is a mess of fanservice and badly choregraphed fights. And I never did figure out why this show is called 11eyes. The only thing that pulled up this rating to an average is the ending. I know everyone else is griping about how they hate the ending, but I find the idea of having 2 alternate endings brilliant.

Characters: 1/0
I have nothing good to say about the characters. Nothing. 11eyes boasts one of the most cliched casts I've evern laid eyes on. (hehe, eyes, 11eyes get it?)

We have our pathetic, undecided male lead, our beautiful, mysterious silent girl, our sexy badass female fighter, our cute girl whose only purpose is to give the male lead something to rescue, our sickeningly cute girl who has a hidden darker side, our rebellious boy with a soft side he refuses to show, you name it.

For the most part, their interactions are less than natural, and often act out of character for the sake of what little plot there is. The cast is quite diverse, though, so if the producers just put some, any effort into the characters, this could have been amazing.

Another thing is that when it seems we are finally getting some character development for one character, all the other characters seem to drop off the face of the earth. This is extremely irritating, the lack of balance.
Art: 7/10
There's nothing wrong with the art, it's your standard moe moe style. However, with the (rather badly choreographed) actions scenes driving the plot, the art doesn't work here.

Moe art should never, never be used with this genre. It adds nothing to the enjoyment of this series. I've only seen one anime where the the art style is horribly moe, and works well with the series. There're also many oversights with the animation, mainly many, many physical impossibilities. for example, when a person horks up blood, the blood generally does not stay floating in that air. It generally falls to the floor in a disgusting sticky puddle. When a person is holding a can of soda, it generally does not disappear when said person gets glomped by an overly kawaii blond girl.

Another thing that bothered me was the uniforms. I'd imagine the school our character attend is run by a perverted old man, since all the girls are in maid uniforms. This made me imagine that the producers are also perverts, seeing all the panty shots, and how the females always, always seem to be in their uniforms. 'Hey, guys, let's all skip school today.' *puts on school uniform* Really?
Sound: 6/10
Sound is okay. nothing special, but nothing that makes me want to tear out my eardrums, either. For the most part, the voices fit nicely with the characters, with Lisette being an exception. Why give an adorable little gothic-loli girl the voice of a sexy woman? It was quite jarring and took away from what little enjoyment I got from this.