Slice of life with an angelic twist.
Angels and Demons is quite the popular topic in entertainment and in all honesty I’m not always as pleased with it. I can’t really lay my finger on it, but it’s always a little farfetched for me. This time around there was a more ‘The Devil is a Part timer’ vibe to it, where Angels and Demons enter and blend in with the human world. With my love for slice of life, Gabriel Dropout became very accessible.
High School Setting we must use
As in good tradition Gabriel Dropout focuses on the life of Gabriel and her angelic and demonic friends graduating from middle school and entering high school in Japan. At some point it becomes a tad tedious that the high school setting is so overly present all the time throughout the anime medium. The original creator could’ve easily used an ‘entering society’-setting, but instead he or she chose a familiar route, namely high school.
The story revolves around Gabriel and her friends trying to blend into human society with each their personal tasks. Gabriel is an angel and has to make the lives of humans better and her counterpart Satania is a demon and has to bring doom and gloom upon the mortals of earth.
Gabriel VS Demons
The main selling point of the show is perhaps that Gabriel is an angel, but when arriving to earth she becomes more and more devilish, giving in to earth’s pleasures such as gaming. Her demonic friends enforce the gradual decline of Gabriel’s dignity. They become more law abiding citizens than Gabriel.
Don’t get fooled by the angels vs demons nature of the show, since the crimes are petty. Satania tries to become the antichrist, but somehow Gabriel always trumps her with her actions. One small scene involves Gabriel throwing trash next to the can and Satania throwing it in the wrong can. This small act is supposed to illustrate the contrast between Gabriel and Satania. This action is also the red line for the rest of the show and it doesn’t go further than that.
Look and Feel
Gabriel Dropout has a pretty straightforward design. There is nothing special going on. It’s pretty flat and basic, no blurring effects that are noteworthy or weird CG.
The character designs are good, especially Gabriel with her nonchalant being and long hair. Through different styles they also try to emphasize the difference between Angels and Demons and with the usage of sound effects and custom backgrounds, create the appropriate vibe.
Verdict 7/10
Gabriel Dropout started out good with an interesting premise, but quickly turned into a regular slice of life series. The fun was away pretty quick, while there was a lot to discover within the theme itself. The high school setting also did not contribute to the originality factor. I rate the show a 7 out of 10 for its attempt to at least be a bit special.
Ninety's Blog 
Best girls are the main protagonists Satanichia and Vignette and while some defend Gabriel for being the perfect foil for the heroines she’s still a poor woman’s Garfield Cat. Raphiel might as well be a glorified side-character.
Long opinion short, Everyone but Gabriel and Raphiel are fun to watch, especially when a majority of the best segments do not even feature either of the two nor is centered around them. I could count the number of times they were slightly entertaining on one hand.
The sure indeed had mostly weak moments. I had high hopes after seeing the first episode, but it became a weak installment unfortunately. Satania gave the show a good comedic factor.
Basically if Satania and Vignette were the main focus then much joy was had. Also let us not forget the kaichou, Tapris and Mr Coffee who were also delightful. Some of the girls’ relatives were also amusing.