Gabriel DropOut

For centuries, Heaven has required its young angels to live and study among humans in order to become full-fledged angels. This is no different for top-of-her-class Gabriel White Tenma, who believes it is her mission to be a great angel who will bring happiness to mankind. However, Gabriel grows addicted to video games on Earth and eventually becomes a hikikomori. Proclaiming herself a "Fallen Angel," she is apathetic to everything else—much to the annoyance of Vignette April Tsukinose, a demon whom Gabriel befriended in her angelic early days on Earth.

Vignette's attempts to revert Gabriel back to her previous self are in vain, as Gabriel shoots down any attempt to change her precious lifestyle. As they spend their time on Earth, they meet two eccentric personalities: the angel Raphiel Ainsworth Shiraha, Gabriel's classmate with a penchant for sadism, and the demon Satanichia McDowell Kurumizawa, a clumsy self-proclaimed future ruler of the Underworld.

Gabriel DropOut follows these four friends' comedic lives as they utterly fail to understand what it truly means to be a demon or an angel.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kurumizawa McDowell, Satanichia Main

Oozora, Naomi Japanese

Tenma White, Gabriel Main

Tomita, Miyu Japanese

Tsukinose April, Vignette Main

Oonishi, Saori Japanese

Shiraha Ainsworth, Raphiel Main

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Sugarbell Chisaki, Tapris Supporting

Minase, Inori Japanese

Master Supporting

Umezu, Hideyuki Japanese

Machiko Supporting

Fuchigami, Mai Japanese

Tenma White, Zeruel Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Tenma White, Haniel Supporting

Morohoshi, Sumire Japanese

Tanaka Supporting

Izawa, Mikako Japanese

Yamashita, Shinpei Producer

Ogata, Mitsuhiro Producer

Isogai, Noritomo Producer

Nakahigashi, Toyokazu Producer

Reviews

Mar 27, 2017

MetaThPr4h

Recommended

If I learned something from watching Gabriel DropOut, is that going to hell is definitely the superior option. Get ready for this hilarious comedy that reverses the roles of angels and demons!

The story is simple but interesting due to the comedic setting it creates: our protagonist, Gabriel, was a kind, top tier angel who always helped others. However, after coming to Earth she developed an addiction to online videogames and became incredibly lazy. From there we meet other angels and demon with personalities that don't fit the standards we give to them, creating lots of great comedic situations playing around that. Going back to Gabriel, ... I love how much of an asshole she can be to the others, it's a fun twist to the happy and kind main protagonist we usually have in these type of stories.

Playing that role instead, we have Vignette, an “angelic demon” if that makes sense. Being completely different to Gabriel, she is a very responsible and kind-hearted girl who is always there to help and bring happiness to everyone around her. How can a demon be this pure? No idea, but I can already tell you that she has some of the most heart-melting smiles that anime can provide. Next we have Satania, the cutest, most “evil” demon that exists. In order to conquer the Earth, she will do things as terrifying as refusing to do her homework or recycling a water bottle with the cap still on. I'm genuinely scared, I swear! As scary and powerful as she wants to be, she still miserably fails at everything and is the constant subject of bullying from Gabriel, and especially from Raphiel, that completes the main cast. Don't let her angelical looks fool you, she's a sadist that has teasing Satania as her favorite pastime. I have no idea what's going on in heaven to have girls like this as the most promising angels.

Gabriel DropOut has the biggest concentration of best girls I have seen in quite a good time, all of them are great and likeable, and the interactions between them are so fun to watch. It doesn’t matter who you choose as your favorite, secondary characters like Tapris, an adorable angel that surprisingly behaves like an angel included, you are picking a great and lovable character.

The character design, backgrounds, and overall art style of this anime is well executed but nothing mindblowing. I felt that compared to other Doga Kobo works it didn't have as many impressively animated scenes as usual, however, the story itself doesn't really have that many moments for them to happen, and when there is the chance, they are done and look great, so I have no objections. In the sound department is mostly what I expected from a comedy anime, with songs that fit well with the tone, but aren't really that memorable. The same can't be said for both the opening (Gabriel Drop Kick) and the ending (Hallelujah☆Essaim) two great songs sung by the voice actors of our four main characters that are two personal favorites of this season. From the opening I especially love the part where the tone of the music adapts to whichever character is singing, using a calmer tone for the angels and a more intense one for the demons. The ending theme is mostly made by nice looking still shots together with the really catchy song.

In conclusion, Gabriel DropOut is a very entertaining comedy anime that plays with the interesting idea of angels and demons and subverts your expectations of what their personalities should be like. I personally had a blast watching it, really enjoying each episode and getting so attached to the characters over the course of the series. I can't see how an anime that made me look forward for the Mondays doesn't deserve to be a favorite of mine heh, I highly recommend this anime to anyone looking for a nice comedy series to watch!

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jun 2, 2019

moe_sama

Mixed Feelings

Gabriel DropOut is a series you will hear praises sung for due to its take on comedy and unabashedly moe characters as the angels and demons enter the human world and interact with each other with their role reversed personalities.
It starts out fun but once it settles into a rhythm it refuses to let up to show even the slightest development in either story nor character.

Story: 5/10

Gabriel is an angel that graduated at the top of her class in heaven and she and her classmates enter the human world to learn more about humans, while there she discovers MMO games and quickly becomes a lazy ... shut in that refuses to do her duties as an angel. She's accompanied by the role reversed cast of angels and demons and the series follows them around in their exploits.


Art: 8/10

I really love Doga Kobo's work, and in terms of moe character designs it seems as if KyoAni and Doga Kobo will always pop up in the same sentence. They use bright distinct colors throughout giving the series its light tone, animation is always on point but not quite to the level of LoveLab despite airing several years after it, and the backgrounds are all nicely done. If you like anime simply for the art, Gabriel DropOut will never disappoint in that regard.


Sound: 7/10

The VAs in Gabriel DropOut all do fine jobs delivering their lines to fit the moods and personalities of the characters, it never feels off and works throughout the series. The OP and ED are both well done and similarly entertaining.


Character: 4/10

The characters are the largest problem I have with Gabriel DropOut and are what make it suffer the most. The main cast consist of Gabriel, the game obsessed, lazy protagonist. She's accompanied by her polar opposite Vingette, a demon who's defining character traits are her upstanding morality and kindness. Raphiel, an angel that has become so bored with the human world that she's developed a craving for sadism. And Satanichia, best described as the devil may care punching bag of the series.

Once you're introduced to these characters most of what you'll have to look forward to is Gabriel being lazy, Vingette being responsible, Raphiel finding ways to beat up on Satanichia, and Satanichia being cocky and being the punchline for most of the slapstick humor. The characters never develop or move beyond these defining traits so each episode will repeatedly play out these scenes. This gets tiresome and even though the characters are likable, they're entirely one dimensional and their interactions aren't enough to carry the series.

Enjoyment: 6/10
Overall: 5/10

As someone who loved Doga Kobo's work on Yuru Yuri and LoveLab, Gabriel DropOut comes off feeling as if the effort and care put into the latter two titles was missing from it. While it was mildly entertaining, I had a hard time enjoying it due to how stagnant it started to feel even before the halfway point of the series.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Mar 27, 2017

Fircoal

Not Recommended

There are two ways I look at Gabriel DropOut. One is as a CGDCT anime and the other is as a comedy. While the two usually go very well together I separate the two of them for a reason. As a CGDCT anime Gabriel DropOut is alright. Vinge and Satania are cute, and at least Gabriel has a cute design, even if her personality is annoying. However, as a comedy anime it is painful.

The biggest issue I have with Gabriel DropOut is that it's not funny. Many of the jokes all boil down to the same thing: "The angels act like demons and the demons ... act like angels." That's actually an interesting idea but the problem is it's not very funny. And it's certainly not funny enough to fill up 12 episodes. However, still the show likes to repeat this joke over and over and over and over again. That and Satania bullying (having funny mean things happen to Satania) is the bread and butter that this show has. Both of which got boring pretty quickly. They do sometimes mix in other jokes but even those jokes fall flat most of the time because it's predictable how they end up. Some of them are jokes I've seen from other shows in the past. The execution of these shows as well tends to be lackluster. There isn't enough variation in the setup or the punchline of the joke so it only adds to that samey feeling. Comedy is subjective but I have a hard time understanding what's so funny about this show. Rather it's attempts at humor usually annoy me more than anything.

The characters range from good to incredibly grating. As it turns out the demons fall into the former camp while the angels fall into the latter camp. Satania is dumb but can be pleasant to watch due to her attitude and the life she brings to the show. Vigne is basically a normal girl as a demon so like a normal girl, she's cute as well. I wouldn't consider either of the characters very well developed as the show never really pulls them apart from their normal behaviour or gets them into situations where they have to grow. There was a moment with Vigne where she showed some more depth but for the most part, the show lacks in that department. That said the two demons are fine characters and at least are likeable. The issue with these two is that it depends on who they're paired up with for how enjoyable each segment is. They're usually paired with the angels which sadly doesn't help them out.

Gabriel is a whole mess of issues. First off she's basically an okatu character played straight. She's never more interesting than that, and her cynicism and her lack of caring get really annoying to watch. It's even more so annoying when they make up this backstory of her being a perfect little angel before getting tainted by the modern world and video games. That actually could have been an interesting story if Gabriel cared about retaining her angelic nature and if it happened slowly through time. Instead, it takes one night, throwing out all illusion of having character development or depth in exchange for a cheap laugh that isn't even funny. What's worse than her bland and uninteresting personality is that there's nothing that makes her likeable. She usually ends up acting pretty mean to her friends, which only serves to make her character less likeable. Thusly. I have no reason to want to see her on the screen nor care about her well-being. It even hurts her cuteness because she has a great design yet it's hard to really adorable or enjoy the looks of someone who I don't like. The ruins part of the magic that could be there.

Raphael is a sadist, and if she had any redeemable traits that'd be ok. But she doesn't. Rather she's pretty much a sadist and nothing else. Her target of prey is poor Satania. Sometimes this works well and is funny but most of the time it doesn't. Satania bullying only really works when Satania is being played due to her own faults. Otherwise, it's cruel and seems unfair for poor Satania. What did she do to deserve being bullied? She has her flaws but not enough to justify the amount of bullying she receives in the show. I personally have a problem with characters getting mistreated whether by the world or by other characters and since it ends up happening so often it only adds to the annoyance that this show can provide. But going back to Raphael, that is the main point of interest with her, and probably the only notable one. And like Gabriel, she gives no reason to like her, and thusly she's annoying to have to watch, as well as again being a bland character.

Unlikeable characters are fine when there is a purpose behind them. Say if they are villains, or if they're used well for comedy. However, the comedy gotten from these characters are stale and not worth while. Furthermore, they clash against the notion of caring about the girls which hurts the CGDCT aspect of the show. The show doesn't work that well all together, and the root of the cause is its failed comedy. Thusly, I imagine how one feels about Gabriel DropOut depends on how funny one finds it. If one finds it funny then it's some of these problems feel like less of an issue. But personally I didn't, and thusly I relied on the characters to win me over. While Vinge and Satania worked, the angels did not, at least for me.

Despite Gabriel DropOut's poor attempts at humor there were a couple of episodes that did shine. These episodes proved that the show can throw in some good material when it wants to. There is a later character that appears named Tapris who is proof of this. However, the show spends more time mulling around the same jokes to really go anywhere and that's it's loss.

The art and animation were solid throughout but never seemed notable enough to give it praise. The music was ok, although I don't really care for the OP very much.

Overall the show is inconsistent and has issues with its humor and its characters, however, it is pretty cute and does have some merits. This is a show that you can probably tell whether you'll like it or not from the first couple of episodes. They never really move on from that type of material. Personally, I don't recommend it but there are worse shows to watch.


An unimportant note: The CR subs for this show were absolute trash. They kept on inserting random jokes instead of translating the actual line. Although that's CR's fault not Gabriel DropOut's fault.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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