Gabriel Dropout is about a fallen angel named Gabriel, who visits Earth originally as a means of learning more about Earth culture (but only visits Japan to achieve this, ignoring all of the other hundreds of cultures but, hey whatever), but, as she becomes addicted to the world of online gaming, she falls into depravity, changing from a sweet, kind "butter wouldn't melt" type character to the lazy, self-centred lie about. During the duration of the show, she meets new demons and reunites with old angel friends who have yet fallen and have come to Earth to learn more about its culture and customs. And that's pretty much it for the narrative. The rest of the show involves the characters in random situations and scenarios, that gets funnier as the show goes along. It took a little while for me to warm up to the show, I think the first three episodes, while still being fine, were not as interesting overall as the latter. When the characters had all been introduced, I was having much more fun with the show overall, mainly due to how fun all of the characters are in this series. While the individual archetypes for the characters had been done before, each one bounces off of each other rather effectively and there is a good enough variety in jokes (for the most part that is) to carry the comedy. There were a few moments in which the comedy was a little TOO stupid for my taste, such as when Satania takes the dog and travels all the way to a far off land; my main problem is that the joke went on for too long. Similarly, there were also some jokes that I felt were either unfunny or kind of fell flat on their face, but these moments didn't take too much away from the show to the point where it ruined it for me and these moments were few and far between.
What is also interesting as a dynamic is that two of the character's archetypes, that being an angel and a demon, are switched around, and while I wouldn't go as far as to call this a subversion of themes or anything, this addition still adds another layer onto the comedy of the show. In terms of characters, there are four central ones; two demons and two angels. Gabriel, as previously mentioned, is the fallen angel who spends the majority of her time playing games and just generally being a worthless member of society. She has her share of funny lines and personality traits, but most jokes with her are just about her lifestyle. Granted, as the series went on, the comedy with her became more funnier, as a result of the more expressive reactions the voice actress and the animators could muster. Vignette, was also a fun character who plays the straight man, or straight woman in this case and despite being a demon, she is perhaps one of the kindest and sweetest people ever. We have Raphiel, another angel who spends most of the time laughing at the expense of the other characters or laughing at Satania, who, in my eyes is the best character in the show.
Satania is essentially a wannabe arch demon who thinks she is evil as all hell, but her attempts at being evil come down to her announcing that she hasn't done her homework boldly in class or starting a fight over a dog who keeps stealing her melon bread. She is delightful and fun to watch, as she attempts all of these various "evil" plots and schemes which always amount to her getting the short end of the stick in the end. There are other characters, such as Gabriel's older sister who makes an appearance in the final episode and is charming in her own way but for the main crust of the show, it focuses on these four, which isn't so bad considering how fun they all are. The show just needed a little more variety in order to bump the score up a little more higher. In terms of animation, the show has a very bright colour pallet and the animation, particularly in the final episode is great. It was produced by the same people who made New Game last year, which also had very attractive looking character designs and animation. The soundtrack was also pretty good, and held together pretty well, but is pretty forgettable aside from the opening and ending tracks which are fun and fit the theme of the show.
In conclusion, Gabriel Dropout is a fun show with fun characters and I do recommend it to anyone looking for something easy and fun to each whilst delivering entertainment.
