WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD. Gabriel DropOut is a comedy/slice of life/supernatural anime that does an excellent job at all these categories. The show follows the hilarious adventures of two demon and two angel high schoolers on their wacky circus. The anime feels somewhat unique as there is not one main protagonist who hogs all the attention. Instead, there are four main protagonists. Although Gabriel is inevitably the most important, the other three still get plenty of focus as well.
The characters have a nice mix of personalities, which helps make the show more lively and interesting. Looking at the characters, Gabriel gets more focus than anyone else. This largely has to do with Gabriel being tied with the main plot of the show more than the other characters. Gabriel has a split personality that is a major focus of the anime. In the past, Old Gabriel is a perfect angel. She is sweet, friendly, caring, compassionate, optimistic, positive, helpful, hardworking, organized, has an extremely high self-esteem, and is totally motivated to, well, I’ll let her say it.
New Gabriel on the other hand is self-centered, lazy, rude, obnoxious, one who mooches favors from others instead of doing favors for others, dishonest, disorganized, and is a total slob. To put it in her own words.
Next there’s Vignette. Vignette is quite smart, hardworking, caring, and organized. She is generally quite cheery and optimistic, but she does have a temper that sometimes shows itself. Although she’s technically a demon, she acts much more like an angel than a demon.
Then there’s Satania, who’s the butt of many jokes. She’s a demon who thinks of herself as being totally wicked and evil, but really isn’t. She is also very stupid, has a ridiculous ego, and is easily manipulated.
Finally there’s Raphiel. Raphiel’s an angel who at first glance appears very angelic and pure. Once you get to know her, you find out she has a dark side to her personality. She absolutely loves pranking and stalking Satania.
Together, these unique personalities make for a very strong combination. The anime does an excellent job playing to the strengths of the characters. This is true during their interactions both with each other and with supporting characters. The show also does an excellent job with character development. The characters’ personalities are presented and developed in ways that are fun, engaging and add to the show rather than being boring.
In addition to the four main characters, there are plenty of fun supporting characters with unique personalities who get thrown into the mix. These supporting characters end up playing a major role. The anime spends a surprisingly large amount of effort on making these characters well developed. Thus, you know where they are coming from and why they interact with the main characters in the ways they do.
As for the anime’s plot, the show does not mainly focus too much in each episode on going forward with the main plot of the series. Instead, the show often has short, miniature plots that become the main focus of each episode. The miniature plots are well done, interesting, quite enjoyable, and very humorous. The anime does an excellent job squeezing lots of good material into a single episode. Meanwhile, the show slowly makes progress for the main storyline of the season. It does this without getting too bogged down in focusing too heavily on progressing the story.
The main plot of the anime definitely helps to shape many of the episodes. This is because many of these episodes both progress and to an extent rely upon how this plot has progressed. This main story arc really comes through toward the end, but it does not dominate the show during the middle. The plot is not totally perfect. There are a few parts of the anime such as some character decisions that do not really seem to make sense and seem forced for the sake of the plot. Still, this is really a minor flaw in what is generally a very well-done structure.
One thing that seems a bit lacking in this anime is the villain. The show does not really seem to have much of a villain or an antagonist except for at the end of the season. Really though, the anime manages to make it work without a villain. Looking back, I realize that not having a villain until the end does not really hinder the show. Instead, the anime does not really need a villain for much of it. This is because there’s plenty of good material to go around throughout the show.
When the villain finally does show up toward the end though, it helps to make for a more exciting finale to the season while also helping to tie up the loose ends. It also helps culminate the plot the anime slowly builds up and have it come crashing down. Not only is the confrontation between the heroes and the villain exciting; it also plays into the show’s comedic focus by making the showdown fun and hilarious. Normally I like it better if a villain has lots of buildup in a media. In this case it actually works out better having the villain just show up out of nowhere. This is because it adds to the anime’s humor having a villain come out of the woodwork. In addition, it also helps allow for the more carefree attitude we see throughout much of the show before catching the protagonists off guard.
Given this is a comedy anime, clearly the humor is important to determining how good of a show it is. I will say the anime nails the humor very nicely. Throughout the show, there are tons of very funny moments. This humor does not just have a repeated formula. Instead, the anime does an excellent job coming up with new jokes and funny story arcs as it goes on. Much of the humor is also difficult to predict and does a nice job of surprising you. The show also does not take itself too seriously, but does take itself seriously enough to generally seem logical and realistic.
In addition to the obvious humor, there are some hidden bits of humor and Easter eggs that are harder to catch. In some cases, it took me watching an episode multiple times to finally catch some of the hidden and not so obvious jokes. Some parts of the anime are definitely funnier than others. Still, even the scenes that are not the funniest in the show would still be considered very funny by the standard of other shows. It really goes to show just how humorous the funniest parts of this anime are when other parts seem disappointing by comparison even though they are quite funny in their own right.
Though this is a comedy anime, that does not mean the show is constant laughter. There are some serious moments sprinkled in the show. Many such moments are emotional and sometimes even sad. Still, this actually adds to the anime by adding some seriousness, makes you feel more emotionally invested, and helps to put the characters’ emotions and feelings on display. Despite this, the characters usually are not shown as getting too emotional. This is one area that could have been done a bit better; it would have made the viewer more emotionally invested if the characters’ showed having emotions on a deeper level.
In addition to the well-done main parts of the anime, another part that was extremely well done is the music and themes. There are very predominant themes of friendship in the show. In addition, there’s a message that you do not need to be perfect around the clock to be able to help others and make a positive impact. The intro music and graphics are very catchy and enjoyable. It also ties very well into the main narrative of the anime, as it sounds calming and soothing in some parts but chaotic and wild in others. It really does a nice job setting the mood for the show.
Even though I have seen the intro many times, I still get excited when I see it again. The intro was so well done, I actually recorded the music and now have it on my phone as an alarm to wake me up in the morning. The other music is also superb in the anime. The show actually has several musical themes it plays depending on the situation to help set the mood, and these tunes are often recurring. This helps to add to the anime’s emotional attachment and emotions in general. This is especially true with the Old Gabriel theme that plays recurrently.
Overall, I give this anime 5 out of 5 stars, thanks mainly to its incredibly well-done humor, superb character development, and outstanding character interactions. The many parts of the show gel together very nicely in a way that just works. Although the anime is not completely perfect, its positives are so well done that they more than make up for the few minor drawbacks and blemishes. If you are into comedy animes, then this is definitely one to check out.
Pros
Absolutely hilarious
Great character personalities
Excellent character interactions
Packs a huge amount of material into each episode
Fun plot lines and story elements
Great music
This anime knows how to not take itself too seriously
Cons
Other than Gabriel, the other character backstories aren’t developed enough
Other than Gabriel, we don’t see enough of the deep-down emotions of the characters
Gabriel DropOut. Crunchyroll, 2017. Web.