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.

'The Way of the Househusband' Is a Comedy Gem

Gokushufudou a.k.a. The Way of the Househusband is a slice-of-life comedy ONA anime series about a former mobster who became a full-time househusband.

Tatsu was once a notorious, formidable yakuza boss nicknamed “the Immortal Dragon.”  By his reputation alone, he makes others tremble in fear.  However, one day, he decided to leave the world of crime in exchange for a banal, homebody married life.  While his kyariaūman (a career woman) wife Miku goes to work, Tatsu stays at home to do the chores and other housekeeping tasks.  However, he may have totally retired from crime, but the yakuza boss spirit remains in him.  Amusingly, by employing his yakuza skillset, smarts, and attitude when carrying out his domestic duties, he actually turns out being an excellent, successful homemaker.

Anime of Winter 2021, Ranked

Winter 2021 should be in the running for best anime season ever.  It was so stacked with quality anime.  Sequels to several reputable anime titles simultaneously dropped this season.  On top of that, there were also a good deal of notable new titles to choose from.  I really had my hands full watching anime this season.  In total, I ended up watching 18 shows this season – the most since Fall 2019 (although, I did drop two, so I only finished with 16).  And those aren’t even all the anime I wanted to watch.  I never got around to watching Beastars season 2 (I hope to catch up to this soon) and SK∞, which is supposedly one of the absolute best new anime of Winter 2021.

Same as always, I will be enumerating here all 18 anime I watched, arranged from the worst to the best for me.

The Promised Neverland 2^nd Season

The second season of The Promised Neverland pulled off one of the most shocking twists in anime history: it sucked.

I haven’t read the manga, but I just knew that there was something off with it around episode 3 or 4.  Then, I learned from the Internet that its story had proceeded to dramatically divert from the manga, cutting off many of the things that made the manga special.  This made me lose any motivation to watch beyond episode 5.

Apparently, according to what I heard, it only got worse from there.  The version of the story that the anime opted for is not only radically condensed, but is also plagued by stupid writing – a far cry from the intelligent script of season 1, which was a bona fide masterpiece.

And I think that’s why the second season seems worse than it really is.  It’s because it betrayed one of the greatest single seasons of anime of all time.

The Promised Neverland season 2 will surely go down as one of the most atrocious anime adaptation botches ever.

Photo Biography Update (04-23-2021)

Some notable photos taken during the period of July 1, 2020 to April 23, 2021...

'Jujutsu Kaisen' Is a Pretty Basic Battle Shonen, yet Brimming with Awesomeness

Jujutsu Kaisen was a huge hit when it debuted last Fall 2020.  In fact, many even considered it worthy of being Anime of the Year, even though its first season was only half-way done.  Personally, I preferred a couple of other anime over it in 2020, but I don’t necessarily think it didn’t deserve the hype.  And by remaining relevant in the loaded Winter 2021, in which it had to contend with many returning fan favorites and hot, new titles, Jujutsu Kaisen has cemented itself as a legit rival to Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba for the title of best battle shonen in recent memory.

'Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki' Is a Top-tier High School Anime

Powered by the hype of its manga fanbase, Horimiya turned out being the most prominent high school rom-com of Winter 2021.  However, while everyone was raving about it from the get go, I found myself gravitating toward Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki instead.  And though I ended up watching and liking Horimiya, too, I still believe Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki is the superior high school rom-com anime of Winter 2021.

'Horimiya' Is a Bit Overhyped, but Still a Genuinely Pleasing High School Rom-Com

Horimiya wasn’t one of the initial new anime I picked up at the start of the Winter 2021 season, but along with Wonder Egg Priority, I just had to start watching it mid-season, because it’s generating much buzz.  In the end, even though I thought it was a bit overhyped, I did thoroughly enjoy it.

Horimiya follows a group of high schoolers experiencing the usual stuff from your conventional high school drama anime – developing friendships, goofing around, bantering, the occasional angst, and of course, romance.  The title of the show is derived from the portmanteau of the main couple, Kyoko Hori and Izumi Miyamura.

'Heaven’s Design Team' Makes an Argument for Intelligent Design

Heaven’s Design Team is a fictional twist on the Creation story.  God, after creating the Earth, decides to outsource to a team of designers the task of creating the animals that will populate the planet.  For every job order, the designers must make a particular animal that meets the vague or enigmatic requirements that their Client has given for it.  A rookie angel named Shimoda serves as their liaison, and provides them invaluable emotional support.

‘Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town’ Is Hilarious, Even Though Much of Its Best Comedy Comes from the Same Formula

Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town follows Lloyd Belladonna, a teenage boy who left his village of Kunlun for the first time in order to pursue his life’s dream of becoming a soldier for the Kingdom of Azami.  Although he’s supposed to be the weakest in his village, he doesn’t want this fact to get in the way of achieving his dream.  He’s determined to become a proud member of the kingdom’s army.

Actually, Kunlun has the legendary reputation of being the hometown of the world’s most powerful heroes.  Located near an infamous dungeon in which the strongest monsters reside, the village’s inhabitants are actually extremely powerful in terms of magic and physical abilities.  That means Lloyd may be the weakest in his village, but he’s still terrifyingly strong by the standards of the outside world.  However, he doesn’t know this, since this is the first time he’s gone out of his village.  As far as he’s concerned, he’s a weakling, since he doesn’t measure up to the “normal” of his village.

'Cells at Work! Code Black' Is Better Than the Original

Cells at Work! Code Black is a spin-off series of Cells at Work!.  It has the same premise as the original, in which cells are anthropomorphized as human-looking workers performing jobs that are metaphorically akin to their functions in real life.  For example, red blood cells (erythrocytes) are deliverymen, and white blood cells (neutrophils) are soldiers.  However, in Cells at Work! Code Black, the main red blood cell character is male, and the main white blood cell character is female.  More notably, the setting of Black is in the body of a man with an unhealthy lifestyle.

Taking Advantage of an Extensive Runtime and a Centralized Creative Vision, 'Zack Snyder’s Justice League' Delivers a Superior Experience

While I did enjoy the DCEU’s Justice League back in 2017, I also found it to be messy and uneven.  And when compared to the MCU’s first Avengers film, it objectively comes off as an inferior product.

Most of the fault for its failure is attributed to the production woes behind the scenes.  Zack Snyder, grieving the sudden death of his daughter, had to step down during post-production, and Warner Bros. brought in Joss Whedon to finish the film.  The final cut of the film released back then apparently turned out being more Whedon than Snyder.  Thus, the unsatisfactory performance of the film – which eventually came to be referred to as “Joss-tice League” – was mostly blamed on Whedon.

Soon afterward, rumors of the existence of a “Synder Cut” – a version of the film true to Zack Snyder’s original vision – spread around the Internet.  While there was skepticism, the legitimacy of the Snyder Cut only gained more traction when people that were involved with the production started suggesting that it exists.  Thus, fans began the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement.  After years of campaigning, fans got what they want as Warner Bros. finally decided in 2020 to let Snyder realize his vision of the film.  Warner Bros. had to shell out $70 million to cover the cost of finishing the visual effects and reshoots.

GTWFSL Holy Week 2021 Special Numbers

Last week, GTWFSL released three virtual song covers in commemoration of the Holy Week and Easter.

For Good Friday, the teachers and some Junior High School students presented “The Power of the Cross” by Stuart Townend and Keith & Kristyn Getty—a moving, meaningful story hymn reflecting on the events of that day in which Christ was crucified.

'WandaVision' Is Alright

WandaVision is arguably the first MCU TV show ever.  Sure, there have been Marvel TV shows before from ABC (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Inhumans), Netflix (Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders, The Punisher), and others (Runaways, Cloak & Dagger) that claimed to be set in the MCU –  some of which even featured characters and elements that were introduced in the films.  However, the MCU films have never really acknowledged them in a meaningful or official capacity.  And thus, no matter how much these TV shows insist that they are also set in the MCU, their supposed link to the MCU totally feels non-canon.  WandaVision is surely the first true MCU TV series, because its MCU identity and association are instantly unquestionable.

'Monster Hunter' Is a Massive Bummer of a Hollywood Isekai

Monster Hunter is a science fantasy action film that’s loosely based on Capcom video game of the same name.  It follows a team of soldiers, led by Captain Natalie Artemis (Milla Jovovich), that is sent to search for another team of soldiers that suddenly disappeared into thin air.  Upon arriving at the last known place where the missing soldiers had been, Capt. Artemis’ team is caught in a mysterious storm that quickly drop out of nowhere.  Afterward, they discover that the storm took them to another world – the same fate as the previously missing soldiers, whom they discovered suffered grisly deaths.  For this new world they find themselves in are actually inhabited by many formidable and aggressive monsters.  In order to survive in this harsh and deadly world, Capt. Artemis and his troops must rely on their training, weaponry, and teamwork, although it looks like they won’t be enough to fight these unfamiliar enemies.

'Space Sweepers' Is a Blast

I don’t know if South Korea has made a science fiction blockbuster like Space Sweepers before, but it’s the first time I’ve personally encountered such kind of South Korean production.  Well, Snowpiercer was technically a South Korean production, but it didn’t really feel “South Korean” since it has a mostly Hollywood cast.  On the other hand, although it has non-Korean supporting characters, Space Sweepers are headlined by Korean actors playing Korean characters.  Thus, it feels like a legit South Korean production, and is the first of its kind that I’ve seen.