The 8th Bernel Zone Awards for Big Screen & Small Screen

Yeah, this year’s edition of the Bernels is extremely late already – the latest it has ever been.  But better late tha… you get the point.  No sense in breaking tradition now.  Anyway, the “categories” here aren’t as many as last year’s, but this will do.

Best Movie Hero: Iron Man (Avengers: Endgame)

The godfather of the MCU secured this award by having one of the most glorious, instantly iconic heroic deaths in cinema history.

Best TV Hero: The Mandalorian a.k.a. “Mando” (The Mandalorian)

Of course, the eponymous character of my favorite TV series of the year is the winner.  This is the way.

Best Anime Hero: Tanjiro Kamado (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba)

He’s easily one of the most unique shonen protagonists I’ve ever encountered.  He’s always ready to extend compassion, even to his enemies.  Yet he doesn’t lose perspective.  His empathy doesn’t cloud his resolve and sense of duty.  If he knows that an enemy needs to be killed, he will fight and kill him without hesitation.  But once the foe is finally vanquished, Tanjiro will show him kindness in his final moment of consciousness.

Best Movie Heroine: Alita (Alita: Battle Angel)

A recent trend in Hollywood is the prominent inclusion of identity politics in their products.  One way this manifests is in the unnatural push for “strong female characters.”  Thus, a lot of bland female characters are in the forefront of TV and film these days.  Thankfully, legit strong female characters – organically developed, earnestly appealing, and thoughtfully written – still happen once in a while.  And the best of such in 2019 cinema is undoubtedly the live-action Battle Angel Alita, phenomenally portrayed by a CGI-enhanced Rosa Salazar.

Best TV Heroine: Veronica Mars (Veronica Mars)

The return of one of my all-time favorite fictional characters on TV made her a shoo-in for this award.

Best Anime Heroine: Tohru Honda (Fruits Basket)

Top-tier best girls Emma and Nezuko are both strong contenders for this award.  But I have to hand it to one of the most strikingly kind, resilient, virtuous female characters in fiction I’ve ever encountered: Tohru Honda.

Best Movie Villain: Arthur Fleck a.k.a. Joker (Joker)

Fueled by an Oscar-winning performance by Joaquin Phoenix, this particular live-action take on the greatest comic book villain ever is the undisputed winner.

Best TV villain: Homelander (The Boys)

Perhaps no other villain in both TV and film has radiated more sense of sleaziness and intimidation than this sadistic Superman analogue.

Best Anime Villain: Askeladd (Vinland Saga)

Akeladd is a villain that does a lot of despicable things, yet he remains likable.  And as you learn more of his backstory, you get to actually root for him more.  He’s the kind of villain you actually don’t want to see die.

Best Movie Villainess: Red (Us)

Lupita Nyong'o’s portrayal of this vengeful doppelganger is wonderfully unsettling.  But the shocking plot twist revolving around this character is what really made her a very memorable villainess.

Best TV Villainess: Granny Goodness (Young Justice: Outsiders)

Honestly, she’s the only one I got on top of my head for this category.

Best Anime Villainess: Ai Magase (Babylon)

Cerebrally, “Mama” Isabella of The Promised Neverland is the best anime villain of 2019.  But, viscerally, it’s Ai Magase.  And since we humans tend to latch on to the visceral than the cerebral, I give this award to the latter.  Babylon ended up being a massive bummer.  But Ai Magase was easily the most magnetic and most frightening villainess of 2019.  She genuinely enthralled me, and at the same time, gave me the chills.

Best Movie Duo: Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw (Hobbs & Shaw)

The tremendous chemistry that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham first displayed in The Fate of the Furious was put front and center in their own spin-off movie.  Smart move by the studio.

Best TV Duo: Aziraphale and Crowley (Good Omens)

Other than probably The Peanut Butter Falcon, there is no more heartwarming story about friendship in 2019 film and TV than Good Omens, and thus, the central duo of this show gets the win for this award.

Best Anime Duo: Carole Stanley and Tuesday Simmons (Carole & Tuesday)

The songs that their friendship and collaboration produced are honestly some of the best pieces of music I’ve heard in 2019.

Best Movie Couple: Peter Parker and MJ (Spider-Man: Far From Home)

Their romance serves as an extremely fun subplot of the superb film.

Best TV Couple: Cha Eun-ho and Kang Dan-i (Romance Is a Bonus Book)

It has been well documented that Lee Jong-suk considers Lee Na-young as his “dream girl” in real life.  Thus, legit fan boying and gushing were probably at play when they generated exceptional screen chemistry as Cha Eun-ho and Kang Dan-i, resulting to what arguably is the best noona romance K-drama I’ve ever seen.

Best Anime Couple: Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya (Kaguya-sama: Love is War)

The development of Haruo and Oono’s relationship in Hi Score Girl season 2 actually touched me more.  But the uniqueness of the “mental chess match” dynamic of Miyuki and Kaguya’s rom-com arc just can’t be ignored.

Most Adorable Movie Character: Morgan Stark (Avengers: Endgame)

“I love you 3000.” Awwww.

Most Adorable TV Character: The Child a.k.a. Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian)

Just look at him!  He’s the embodiment of pure cuteness.

Most Adorable Anime Character: Nezuko Kamado (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba)

The premier imouto!

Best Movie Ensemble: The Avengers with Their Allies (Avengers: Endgame)

“Is that everyone?”

“What?  You wanted more?”

Actually, yes.  But still an epic assembling nonetheless.

Best TV ensemble: Nandor the Relentless, Laszlo Cravensworth, Nadja, Guillermo, and Colin Robinson (What We Do in the Shadows)

Almost as fun as their counterparts in the original movie.

Best Anime Ensemble: The Crew of Astra (Astra Lost in Space)

A space crew that has the same kind of appeal as the best of them.

Worst Movie: High Life

*Groan*

Worst TV Show: Kim Possible

A dumpster fire of a live-action remake.

Worst Anime: The Seven Deadly Sins

The latest season is utterly painful to look at.  The new studio should be indicted for committing this atrocity, forever ruining what had been a fantastic shonen.

Most Disappointing Movie: Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker

A messy, underwhelming conclusion to not only the sequel trilogy, but to the entire Star Wars film saga as a whole.

Most Disappointing TV Show: Game of Thrones

The dishonest ideological tweaking done by the writers in Jack Ryan season 2 kind of ruined the show for me.  But my disappointment for that couldn’t compare to my disappointment for the disastrous final season of arguably the most groundbreaking TV series of the decade.

Most Disappointing Anime Series: Babylon

It was actually pretty good for most of its run, that it made me expect great things from it.  Unfortunately, it didn’t really have satisfying payoffs prepared.

Best Movie Fight Scene: Avengers and Allies vs. Thanos’ Army (Avengers: Endgame)

I will probably never get tired of watching this scene.

Best TV Fight Scene: The Gym Fight (The Punisher)

Season 2 was mediocre.  But it had some exhilarating, brutal fights.  The best of which was this doozy.

Best Anime Fight Scene: Tanjiro vs. Rui (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba)

As far as straightup fight is concerned, this is my favorite one from last year’s anime.  It was an eye-popping, visceral, kickass sakuga treat.

Best Plot Twist: The Alt-History Twist in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Instead of breaking into Sharon Tate’s home and murdering her, as what had been the case in real life, the Manson Family breaks into the home of Tate’s next-door-neighbor, washed-up TV star Rick Dalton.  There, the cultists get wrecked by a flame-thrower-wielding Dalton, his tripping stunt man bestfriend Cliff Booth, and Booth’s pit bull Brandy.

Best Cameo: J.K. Simmons’ J. Jonah Jameson (Spider-Man: Far From Home)

The best possible cameo in Spider-Man: Far From Home would have been Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men, showing up to kick off a live-action cinematic Spider-Verse.  That didn’t happen.  Fortunately, we got the second best thing – J.K. Simmons reprising his role as J. Jonah Jameson in the MCU.

Best Song: “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher” (The Witcher)

Admit it.  This song got stuck in your head for days, if not weeks.

Best “So Bad, It’s Good”: Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest

This was a bad anime.  But it managed to entertain with its badness, for it was unapologetic of its self-indulgent conceits.

Up and Coming Star That Got My Attention: Florence Pugh

With three notable and diverse roles – Amy March in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women adaptation, Dani Ardor in the folk horror Midsommar, and Paige in the wrestling comedy biopic Fighting with My Family – Florence Pugh managed to showcase her range and brand in 2019.  Can’t wait to see her in Black Widow.

Best Movie Poster: Parasite