First Impressions / Series Introduction / Snapshots

「もう戻れないと知ったあの日」 (Mou Modorenai to Shitta Ano Hi)
“The Day I Knew I Could Never Go Back”

Angels, demons, and slice of life: it’s a combination that just works. Proof in point being the countless series featuring all three components in damn near every conceivable genre, from Ah! My Goddess to Heaven’s Lost Property, and hell even the ridiculous Dokuro-chan. Gabriel Dropout might be the first though to mesh hikkikomori shut-in with angelic stature and centre it all around comedic gags. As a comedy this was one series I’ve eagerly awaited since previewing, and I dare it’s lived up to expectations.

At its core, Gabriel Dropout is all about slobbery, particularly the obsessive gaming variety. For humour this concept certainly never grows tiring, and Gabriel (Tomita Miyu) definitely proves the point over and over again. Given how Gabriel literally fell from grace, there’s probably an argument for the addictive, deleterious effects of video games on vulnerable people here, but it’s hard focusing on such things while laughing away at our angel’s the ridiculous antics. Skipping school and refusing to clean are only topped by her public littering and forgetful memory, all completed by a totally uncaring attitude. This little angel has fallen far enough to feature one hell of a corrupted halo, and hilariously become unable to transport herself between locations. I’ve seen Gabriel compared to Umaru of Himouto infamy fame, but it’s not a particularly good fit given Umaru attempted maintaining the perfect outwards appearance, whereas Gabriel abandons all pretense of trying.

What really separates the two and coincidentally makes the comedy work so well though is the playoff with our featured devils. The ironic switch of angelic and demonic traits between our angels and devils arguably makes many of these situations work so well, such as Satanichia’s (Oozora Naomi) shock over the spilled juice, or Vigne’s (Oonishi Saori) utter lack of demonic nature. Gabriel isn’t the sole corruption here, each girl features some serious ruination in their own way. Vigne in particular serves as Gabriel’s mirror image, providing all the traits we expect from our little angel, but wrapped up in one cute demonic package. Quite funny too how she still retains some of that devilish attitude when the bugs start appearing. Satanichia, however, is a force unto her own and probably one of the best characters at the moment. It’s as though Ah! My Goddess’ Marller became more hyperactive and practiced in front of a mirror, because this girl is a diabetes inducer—those gleeful faces and cutesy laugh are alone enough to keep me watching. I’m fully expecting some more hilarious scenes with this devil, especially once the totality of Raphiel’s (Hanazawa Kana) sadism is revealed and we get some more provocative antics.

For a comedic slice of life this is definitely one good stress reliever for this season, especially if the humour continues as is. Still mulling whether I’ll continue blogging this one, but if Satanichia forever remains best girl I know where my choice lies. Need look no farther than this one for your weekly comedy fix.

OP Sequence

OP: 「ガヴリールドロップキック」 (Gabriel Drop Kick) by Gabriel Tenma White (Miyu Tomita), Vignette Tsukinose April (Saori Oonishi), Satanichia Kurumizawa McDowell (Naomi Oozora), Raphiel Shiraha Ainsworth (Kana Hanazawa)

30 Comments

    1. Hanazawa Kana in another sadistic role! Raphi and Plutia are different levels of sadism though. Raphi asked Satania to lick her feet. Iris Heart will MAKE Satania lick her feet, whether she likes it or not, or worse. She’s my favorite CPU in Neptunia too.

      Zhinvu
      Reply

  6. I had the same thought as Vigne as to whether Gabriel before and after she discovered video games was the same person. I also thought Gabriel was a more bratty Umaru but I think she reminds me more of Aqua from Konosuba. Either way I was smiling start to end. One of my favorite series this Winter 2017.

    Zhinvu
    Reply

  7. As much as I liked this episode (slobby Gabriel is godly adorable), there’s one thing I couldn’t get past until I watched it a second time: where the hell did the game come from? It was already installed on her computer for some reason and she could see into the game world even without a character for some reason. It made her fall way too convenient compared to if they’d taken a few more seconds to just say that someone had recommended the game and lent it to her, so unless the random appearance becomes a plot-point later it’s gonna feel like lazy writing.

    Otherwise it was a great episode with all the right notes. Poor Satanichia, she just wants a hug. I really liked how the only thing still pure enough about Gabriel to be teleported by angelic means was her white pansu! XD

    Aex
    Reply

    3. The anime takes some severe liberties (at least in the first five minutes — I stopped watching it then) from the manga, so plot holes like this happen. The manga wisely jumps to her corrupted state, letting the reader assume Earth can fell even an angel. If the anime was too moe and soft for you and you like “cute girls NOT doing cute things”, then check out the manga.

      C
      Reply

    4. It’s a pretty petty reason to drop a show if you can’t relate to any characters. I mean its one thing to think that occasionally, but the way you’re putting it, its like you have to relate to someone in every show you watch. And at this point you’re basically spamming. Like seriously, think of what you want to say and type it all in one response. Don’t just keep on replying to yourself.

      marsh381
      Reply

    5. If you having a problem with this show, then why you negatively react to it here in the first placeby spamming your comments like it’s a group of haters? keep that in mind that if you wanna react to this negatively, then don’t reply(my opinion for safety)otherwise you don’t wanna be in trouble if you spam your comments like that.

      XRaider
      Reply

  11. As a manga reader (Currently one of my favorites for that matter) my expectations were well met. I laughed out loud despite knowing the jokes beforehand and that Dogakobo charm is irresistible. Best of all: The characters’ voices are exactly how I imagined them

    Vingette is cute as hell (Pun unintended) but Raphiel a best.

    Arche
    Reply

    1. @Arche: Gave this a “test drive” before it aired and I agree that this got a good adaptation (so far at least). IMO here’s an example of anime only tweaks that were beneficial rather than detrimental. For example, in the manga, there’s the angel-school graduation intro then straight into Gab as lazy gamer. I really liked how the anime fleshed out her transition a bit. Brief, but effective as it gave at least some transition including how she got sucked into gaming which I found quite funny as well (most humorous part of the episode IMO). Good work there. The anime also added a nice tweak to the the panty teleport with the guys all giving thanks. XD So not surprised that manga fans are happy with Ep.01.

      However, totally disagree about Raphiel being the “best girl”. “Worst girl” IMO. Personally, I did not like her mean-spirited, bullying ways in the magna. I get the angel-devil twist here, but not funny (IMO). All it did is make me sympathetic to Satanichia (who’s already fine as baka comedy relief on her own) and dislike Raph. Bleh. I’m firmly in the Vingette camp. Easily best girl IMO.

      daikama
      Reply

  12. It’s funny, I like pretty much everything about this show except for the main character. Maybe it’s just me but Gabriel felt a bit too flat next to all the other characters and didn’t really capture my interest. It’s a problem with shows where the MC is an unmotivated blob, they just don’t influence things much. I’ll probably marathon this after the season ends, assuming I continue to hear good things.

    Dr. Hochmeister
    Reply

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