The 9th Bernel Zone Awards for Big Screen & Small Screen

I thought last year’s Bernels was the latest it would ever be.  Well, this year’s edition – the 9^th already! – actually turns out being much later than that.  To be fair, though, I usually do this around the Oscars season.  And since this year’s Oscars was just a few days ago, this Bernels is, in a sense, just on time.  Lol.  Without further ado, let’s jump into it…

Best Movie Hero: Joel Dawson (Love and Monsters)

A weakling with a big heart who undergoes a compelling character development that turns him into a perfect hero for the post-apocalyptic, monster world of Love and Monsters.

Runner-up: Mickey Pearson (The Gentlemen)

Best TV Hero: The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian)

Just as The Mandalorian gets the top spot for my annual “top 10 TV shows” list for the second year in a row, its eponymous character wins this award for the second year in a row.  His two-season-spanning character arc was immensely beautiful and satisfying.

Best Anime Hero: Anos Voldigoad (The Misfit of Demon King Academy)

No one since One Punch Man’s Saitama has there been such a hilariously and awesomely overpowered character like Anos.

Best Movie Heroine: Crystal (The Hunt)

This character is as underrated as the movie she’s in.  These days, partly as a result of its leftist agendas, Hollywood is obsessed with pushing modern “strong, women” characters, which usually results to superficial, if not obnoxious, characterizations.  Ironically, when someone like Crystal comes around – a “strong, woman” character who’s actually likable and organically portrayed and developed as such – she gets underappreciated or hated.

Best TV Heroine: Jo Yi-seo (Itaewon Class)

A uniquely charismatic and intellectual K-drama heroine, she was a lock for this award ever since I was midway through watching Itaewon Class.  It’s just so refreshing to see a female mastermind, someone who’s constantly the smartest person in the room, for a change.

Best Anime Heroine: Catarina Claes (My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!)

Just like the winner of this award last year (i.e. Fruits Basket’s Tohru Honda) Catarina makes kindness great again.  She’s also a terrific poster girl for self-improvement and character growth.  Plus, her being an amusing, adorable airhead is icing on the cake.

Best Movie Villain: Dr. Robotnik (Sonic the Hedgehog)

As it turned out, Jim Carrey’s trademark high-energy clowning was just perfect for portraying a delightful live-action Robotnik.

Best TV Villain: Homelander (The Boys)

Back-to-back winner of this annual award.  There’s simply no other villain on TV more sordid and cruel right now.

Best Anime Villain: Bondrewd (Made in Abyss: Dawn of the Deep Soul)

I hand this award to Bondrewed, because unless I am forgetting something, there was nothing in 2020 anime that was as chilling and heinous as his acts in Dawn of the Deep Soul.

Best Movie Villainess: Faith Brewster (Irresistible)

Rose Byrne’s Faith Brewster isn’t really a villainess in the strictest sense of the word, when she’s not really any worse than the “hero” of the brilliant political satire Irresistible, Steve Carell’s Gary Zimmer.  They simply fall on opposing political parties, but both are pretty scummy as campaign strategies.  2020 cinema didn’t really have any compelling straight-up villainess, so there weren’t any better choices.  By default, the award for “best movie villainess” goes to Brewster, whom Byrne played to delightful, hilarious perfection.

Best TV Villainess: Liberty/Stormfront (The Boys)

Maintaining a hip, edgy, anti-establishment public persona, she’s actually every bit as a two-faced sham underneath as most Supes are.  In reality, she’s as narcissistic, sadistic, and devious as Homelander, but is better in keeping a virtuous image because of her savvy for exploiting social media and Internet culture.  And being a literal Nazi, she has an additional layer of evil that is distinct from the other corrupt Supes.

Best Anime Villainess: Mami Nanami (Rent-A-Girlfriend)

The wide, intense disdain in 2020 for Mami and Tower of God’s Rachel was more or less equal.  But the reason the latter wins this award over the former is because her role as a villainess was made known from the get go.

To clarify, Mami is the “best” villainess in the sense that she’s the worst.  If you look up “bitch” in the dictionary, under the informal definition of the word, you will find a picture of Mami.

Best Movie Duo: The Protagonist and Neil (Tenet)

I initially consider Onward’s Lightfoot brothers for this award.  But then I remember that the dynamic between the Protagonist and Neil in Tenet actually ended up being as profound and touching as that of the Lightfoot brothers.  And the fact that they are a pair of badass time-travelling operatives gives them the edge.
 
Best TV Duo: Rick and Morty (Rick and Morty)

Second time in four years.

 
Best Anime Duo: Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson (Kabukichou Sherlock)

There are now so many versions of this legendary duo out there, but Kabukichou Sherlock’s take is definitely among the most meaningful ones.

Best Movie Couple: Nyles and Sarah Wilder (Palm Springs)

This is actually more of a testament to how superb Palm Springs is rather than how great Nyles and Sarah as a couple.

Best TV Couple: Captain Ri Jeong-hyeok and Yoon Se-ri (Crash Landing on You)

I wish they had a better “happily ever after” ending.  But I understand that the bittersweet outcome they got was simply fitting for what CLOY was going for.

Best Anime Couple: Minato Hinageshi and Hinako Mukaimizu (Ride Your Wave)

Their love story is somewhat derivative, and I thought I wouldn’t care much for it.  In the end. it genuinely got me invested and affected.  Heck, being reminded of it while writing this evokes a slight ache in my heart.

Most Adorable Movie Character: Boy (Love and Monsters)

Joel’s canine traveling companion easily won hearts by displaying intelligence, emotional depth, and pluckiness.

Most Adorable TV Character: Grogu a.k.a. “Baby Yoda” (The Mandalorian)

Second year in a row.  As long as The Mandalorian is on TV, he’ll probably win this award all the time.

Most Adorable Anime Character: Pipe (Deca-Dence)

Serving as mascot of the show, he brightened up every scene he was in.  (SPOILERS) Sad that he had to perish along with the rest of the Gadoll, though.

Best Movie Ensemble: Andy, Booker, Joe, and Nicky (The Old Guard)

Each one is supposed to be a badass warrior in his or her own right.  But they are at their coolest when they fight as a unit.
 
Best TV Ensemble: The Mandalorian, Cara Dune, Boba Fett, Fennec Shand, Bo-Katan, and Koska Reeves (The Mandalorian)

The Mandalorian assembled squads of different lineups throughout season 2.  But the best is easily his team when he set out to rescue Grogu from Moff Gideon in the finale.

Best Anime Ensemble: Trans-America Wild Racers (Appare-Ranman!)

Imagine the Wacky Racers finding themselves bonding between races, turning into a nakama, and then rallying together against a common enemy.  That’s the charm presented by the cast of Appare-Ranman!.
 
Worst/Most Disappointing Movie: Artemis Fowl

AAAAAAARRRRRRRRGH!

Best Chase Sequence: A Purse Thief Brings Together The Main Trio (The God of High School)

Yes, I think it’s better than any other chase sequences of 2021.  Yes, even the ones in Tenet and Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo!.

Best Fight Choreography: Opening Battle Royale (The God of High School)

TGOH went downhill after that, but this awesome scene, along with the earlier chase sequence, made the first episode one of the strongest anime pilots of 2020.
 
Best Battle Scene: Light Side vs. Dark Side (The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special)

The time traveling in this special resulted to several amusing happenings.  But the best is when good guys and bad guys from all throughout history – Jedi, Sith, rebels, clone troopers, stormtroopers, First Order jet troopers, Sith troopers, etc. – are brought altogether to the desert of Tatooine.  Some characters, like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Han Solo, are even represented by older and younger versions of themselves!  This results to an epic throwdown between the Light Side and Dark Side of different eras.
 
Best Ending Scene: Goodbye DCAMU (Justice League Dark: Apocalypse War)

Beautiful, but tragic.  Sniff.  Sniff.

Best Ending Shot: “Sgrayem.” (The Queen’s Gambit)

An impeccable frame to close a very well-crafted TV show.

Best Wardrobe: Beth Harmon (The Queen’s Gambit)

I’m not even a fashion fan, but Anya Taylor-Joy + clothes is quite an aesthetic treat.

Best Eyes: Beth Harmon (The Queen’s Gambit)

Haunting, but alluring.

Best Cameo: Luke Skywalker (The Mandalorian)

It would have been more epic if it had been Sebastian Stan playing Luke instead of a digitally de-aged Mark Hamill.  Still, everything about the Jedi Master’s surprise appearance in the season two finale of The Mandalorian – his climactic entrance, his manhandling of the Dark Troopers, and his meeting with Mando – was epic already.

Best Out-of-Nowhere Death: Falling Debris Kills the Cult Leader’s Kid After Miraculously Talking for the First Time in His Life (Japan Sinks 2020)

Japan Sinks 2020 was a mixed bag.  But even so, it’s still worth watching for this scene alone.  Regardless of whether it’s intentional or not, it’s so dark and random that it instantly becomes comedy gold.

Best Movie Song: “Jaja Ding Dong” (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga)

Catchy, jovial, and humorous, “Jaja Ding Dong” is such a fun song to listen to over and over again.

Best Musical Number in a Musical: “Pare Ko” (Ang Huling El Bimbo)

Hamilton was the best musical – and best movie – I saw in 2020.  But the “Pare Ko” ROTC scene from Ang Huling El Bimbo was the most striking musical number I saw in 2020.  Hype, choreography, musical arrangement… everything about it was splendid.

Best Musical Number in a Non-Musical: Class 1-A School Festival Performance (My Hero Academia)

The buildup leading toward it, the significance of the scene, the song (“Hero Too”), Class 1-A’s delivery and production gimmicks, and the overall direction of the scene resulted to a truly spectacular musical number.

On top of that, this specific moment...

...made the scene more moving than it already was.  Honestly, I got teary-eyed when I saw this episode.

Best OST: “Start Over” by Gaho (Itaewon Class)

That time Gaho and Chris Lyon, who played Kim To-ni in the show, performed the song for dingo music.

This song effortlessly gives me goosebumps and gets me emotionally pumped up.

Best OP: "Chiisana Hibi" by flumpool (Kakushigoto)

A close second is "Daddy! Daddy! Do" by Masayuki Suzuki of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War.  But the roller coaster of feels that Kakushigoto’s OP put me through was simply something else.

Best ED: “The Great Pretender” by Freddie Mercury (Great Pretender)

Having this as ED was a nice touch.  While watching most episodes of Great Pretender, I actually sat through the end credits.

Best Plot Twist: Deca-Dence Is a Theme Park (Deca-Dence)

The pilot of Deca-Dence introduced a seemingly cliché-filled premise that’s reminiscent of Attack on Titan, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, Mortal Engines, Super Dimension Fortress Macross, and Snowpiercer.  Well, as the plot twist in episode 2 revealed, it was because it was being a theme park all along – completely changing the premise of the show from the ground up, shifting the comparisons to The Matrix, Westworld, and Jurassic Park.

Best Concept: Time Inversion/Reverse Entropy (Tenet)

Confusing at first, but really stimulating once you grasp what’s going on with it.

Best Screenshot-Turned-Into-Meme: “And I Took That Personally” MJ (The Last Dance)

Best Poster: Appare-Ranman!