Upon graduating from a school in heaven, angels are sent down to Earth, where they must learn about humans and guide them towards the correct path in order to become true angels. However, Gabriel "Gab" White Tenma, the top angel in her class, becomes addicted to video games upon arriving on Earth and turns into a complete slob as a result. The story follows Gabriel, along with her circle of friends comprising fellow angel Raphiel, and two demons, Vignette and Satanichia, as they attend high school.
Gabriel DropOut (ガヴリールドロップアウト) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ukami, which began serialization in the shonen magazine Dengeki Daioh G since 2013, has spawned fourteen volumes as of September 27, 2023; the English release is licensed by Yen Press. A spinoff focused on Tapris, titled Tapris SugarStep (タプリスシュガーステップ), premiered on August 27, 2018, with illustrations by Bafako.
An anime adaptation directed by Masahiko Ohta for Dogakobo (the same main staff and studio were responsible for fellow slacker schoolgirl series Himouto! Umaru-chan) aired as part of the winter 2017 anime season, and ran for 12 episodes. An Original Video Animation episode aired on March 24, 2017, and a second aired on May 24, 2017. Crunchyroll has the first 12 episodes here
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Gabriel DropOut contains examples of the following:
- Adaptation Expansion: In the anime.
- It adds a short prologue of Gabriel doing good deeds for the town up to the exact moment she gave in to a sedentary lifestyle. Later episodes add extra gags to the chapters they adapt as well.
- It also fixes some of the weirder things from the manga, such as when Vignette cuts Gabriel's laptop's LAN cable in the anime, while in the manga, it's the power cable. Since the laptop immediately stops working, this would suggest Gabriel doesn't use a battery (a pretty odd thing to do for a gamer).
- Affectionate Parody: Of Iyashikei manga, especially the "cute girls doing cute things" aspect of the genre. Gabriel DropOut has more Comedic Sociopathy and violence in it, but it's just as inconsequential as in other more straightforward manga of the genre.
- Beach Bury: Three times when the cast visits the beach. Satanichia gets buried for a Smashing Watermelons demonstration, and later Gabriel and Satanichia are buried lengthwise and have bodies sculpted from the mounds.
- Beach Episode: Chapter 11/Episode 4, taking place during summer vacation, has the cast spend a day at the beach.
- Big "WHAT?!": Gab has one when Tapris informs her that her sister Zelel will be visiting.
- Black Sheep: Satanichia's brother is the Only Sane Man in a family with Cloudcuckoolander and Mock Millionaire antics.
- Bland-Name Product:
- Gab's handheld is a Play Angel Portable.
- Quite a few in Episode 3◊, including My Neighbour Fukuro, Your 'Nam, and Spydoor Man.
- In Episode 11, makai.com is the demonic version of Amazon. "Makai" means "hell" in Japanese. (There is a real-life makai.com, but it's an ocean engineering company, and probably borrowed from the unrelated Hawaiian word "makai" which means "seaward".)
- Book Ends: Episode 12 echoes what happened in Episode 1.
- A perfect angel Gabriel is in her room having just finished her homework where she hears a cry for help coming from the an MMO on a computer. However the first time she was genuinely a good person who became corrupted by video game addiction, while the second time she was faking it the whole time.
- Remember when Gab tried to teleport to school in episode 1 and only her underwear ended up in class? Well, she tries it again during the credits of episode 12....only this time only her skirt gets teleported to class. Her response to this both times is to resort to blowing on the First Trumpet of the Apocalypse.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall:
- When Satania endlessly rings Gabriel's door bell, the door bell's visual sound effect words actually slam into Gabriel.
- Vignette objects to Gabriel undressing right in her living room, stating that there's a private place to change nearby. Gabriel replies that the holy light will keep things family-friendly.
- While Raphiel is flashing back to the Master making the coffee that Gabriel brought to her sister, Gabriel then pushes the thought bubble aside.
- Call-Back: Episode 12 is this to Episode 1.
- After being rehabilitated by Zelel, Gab reverts to the personality she had prior to her regression to a slacker. As Gab finishes her homework at home, she, like last time, receives a distress call from the MMO she plays, but doesn't respond to it and instead shuts her laptop. Gab reveals this to be an act after the rest of the main cast appear in her house.
- Gabriel also attempts to teleport into class to beat the clock, but she only succeeds in teleporting her skirt this time. And again, the witnessing boys nearby worship it.
- Calvinball: The "Shogi" game Gabriel and Satanichia play goes off the rails right on the first move. Other antics include placing the pieces in a bat formation that goes outside of the playable area, penalties that award points, using those points to convert opposing pieces to your side, and promoting pieces.
- Cast Full of Crazy: It is played for laughs, especially when compared with the standard set of heroines for a slice-of-life show. Next to lazy Gabriel, trollish/sadistic Raphiel, cowardly Tapris and comically evil Satanichia, the only character that can be considered fully adequate is Vignette (and even she can get really violent when sufficiently angered or scared).
- Casting Gag: This is not the first time that Kana Hanazawa plays a cheerful Ojou, who loves to make fun of the main character. It's also not the first time she played a light-haired "angel".
- Christmas Episode: Chapter 20/the first half of Episode 9 has the cast celebrate Christmas indoors.
- Comical Overreacting: Raphiel gets a little too into her Boke and Tsukkomi Routine act and shouts that she's shocked Vignette doesn't enjoy playing the straight man. Vignette points out that Raphiel seems too shocked.
- Confound Them with Kindness: When Satania forgets her umbrella and a downpour starts up, Raphiel kindly offers to share hers. What follows is Satania as a paranoid wreck, certain that every puddle and corner hides Raphiel's latest cruel prank. Raphiel isn't planning anything this time, but she finds Satania's paranoia over her uncharacteristic niceness extremely amusing.
- Counting Sheep: Vigne tries this when she was sick and trying to sleep. She can’t remember what animal humans use and comes up with cerberuses, which start piling up. Then trying something small, fluffy and cute, she comes up with Gabriels, who also pile up by sleeping. It turns out to be a dream though and she did manage to fall asleep.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune:
- Both the opening, "Gabriel Dropkick", and ending, "Hallelujah Essaim" are performed by Miyu Tomita (Gabriel), Saori Onishi (Vignette), Naomi Ozora (Satanichia) and Kana Hanazawa (Raphiel).
- The ending in Episode 7, "Gabriel no Kazoeuta" ("The Gabriel Counting Song"), is performed by Vignette.
- Drama Bomb: The second OVA, "Gift from the Angels," where the main cast befriends a near-blind girl... and it goes a bit downhill from there.
- Dramatic Drop: Gabriel tells Vigne it's ironic for somebody like her to call an angel out for not acting angelic, when she's a demon who doesn't act the slightest bit demonic. Vigne reacts by standing in shock and dropping the vacuum she was going to clean Gab's room with.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- Gabriel is shown going from perfect angel to extreme slacker as she gets pulled into an MMO shortly after arriving.
- Vignette serves as the sane one who keeps Gabriel in check.
- Satanichia's first scene shows her laughing maniacally at not putting a bottlecap in its proper receptacle.
- Raphiel's introductory sequence has her mess with Satanichia.
- Face Doodling: Gabriel can't resist drawing on Vignette's face while the latter is resting from a cold. Amusingly enough, Vignette makes no remarks on it, and doesn't remove the doodles either.
- Fish out of Water: The main cast is still getting accustomed to the ways of the human world, like figuring out how a cafeteria works.
- For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: The fallen angel Gabriel attempts to do this by wearing her angelical clothes, but Vigne and Raphiel stop her from doing it and force Gabriel into wearing a cute werecat costume.
- Gilligan Cut: In Episode 1, after gleefully announcing that she deliberately skipped homework as her idea of committing great evil, Satanichia lets out an Evil Laugh while Gabriel, Vignette and their schoolmates look on, saying that their teacher doesn't scare her in the least. The scene immediately cuts to her crying outside the classroom carrying heavy buckets as punishment.
- Gretzky Has the Ball: Invoked by Raphiel during a game of shogi to screw around with Satanichia, who is completely clueless of its rules.
- Halloween Episode: Chapter 15/The last quarter of Episode 6 focuses on the holiday as the cast dress up in costumes, ask for candy and pull pranks.
- Hot Springs Episode: The first OVA episode has the cast spend a day at a hot spring inn.
- Irony: Gabriel and Raphiel are terrible angels — the former is a lazy gamer, the latter a sadistic troll. Vignette and Satanichia are terrible demons — the former is an all-around sweetie, the latter having a very petty idea of "evil".
- I Got a Rock: When Satania, Vigne, and Raphiel trick or treat at Gabriel's place, Gab just walks back inside and gives them a bag of beans.
- Japanese Delinquents: The Angel Coffee Master imagines Vignette dressed as a delinquent, complete with longer skirt and face mask, when she laments about having to do bad deeds.
- Laser-Guided Karma: While Gabriel, Vignette, and Satanichia are enjoying some udon, Gabriel pranks Satanichia by convincing her to add lots of spice to her udon. To Gabriel's surprise, Satanichia eats the super-spicy udon without issue and even thinks it's delicious. Also to Gabriel's surprise, Satanichia adds lots of spice to her udon as well.
- Left Hanging: Chapter 35/Episode 10 ends with Gab and Raphi deciding to help Satania sneak into Heaven. This seems to have been resolved offscreen as they are uncomfortably hugging her in a bonus illustration at the end of the chapter. Then the next chapter/episode moves on to another situation entirely, and the former plot is not brought up again.
- Lens Flare Censor:
- Parodied with Gabriel's Holy Shield, which not only helpfully covers her no-no parts with magical rays of light, but is also visible to other characters.
- Parodied again in the Hot Springs Episode OVA, where Gab and Raphi's no-no bits are covered by divine light, Satania's by some sort of dark counterpart, and Vigne's entire body, ironically, by a god-class divine light.
- Made of Iron: Everyone is able to withstand tons of punishment. Satanichia in particular survives getting a door kicked in her face and a bat smashed over her head. Justified since they're angels and demons.
- Nemesis as Customer: Gabriel has to work in a coffee shop, despite her general misanthropy, to make enough money to feed her MMO habit. Unfortunately for her, Satania wanders in one day and relishes the chance to make the apathetic angel wait on her hand and foot, until Gabriel is nearly ready to snap.
- Non-Uniform Uniform: With the exception of Only Sane Man Vignette, all the primary characters wear a modified version of the school uniform:
- Gabriel wears a track jacket instead of the usual cardigan everyone else wears.
- Satanichia wears a black shirt instead of a white one, and a tie instead of a ribbon.
- Raphiel has a white cardigan instead of the standard. Additionally, she also wears a thin black ribbon, instead of the pinkish-red one.
- No Poker Face: Tapris ends up in a game of Old Maid against Satanichia which will determine Gabriel's fate, but Tapris face reveals all and Satania is easily able to avoid the Joker.
- Ominous Pipe Organ: Satanichia's leitmotif plays like this.
- Only Sane Man: Satania's Literal-Minded little brother is the only one who doesn't play along with the rest of his immediate family's "evilness", instead reacting with snark.
- Pixellation: The cockroach in Gabriel's room is mosaiced. It makes the scene it's in all the funnier.
- Pragmatic Adaptation: As the anime adapts the manga's chapters in a different order, Tapris is changed from a first-year student to a prospective middle-schooler in her first proper appearance.
- Rock Me, Asmodeus!: The opening theme is backed by choral music when an angel is singing and electric guitar when a demon is singing.
- Running Gag:
- Whenever the class representative shows up, she usually introduces herself via narration.
- In the anime, a white-furred dog makes an appearance about once per episode. Most of the time it's messing with Satanichia in some way, particularly stealing her melon bread.
- Ryokan Inn: The main cast stay in one for a single night in the Hot Springs Episode OVA.
- Scare Chord: Played for laughs in Episode 11 of the anime. After Tap accidentally calls Raphi a demon, a jarring note plays as Raphi quickly gets in Tap's face and asks who Tap was referring to.
- Shout-Out:
- To JoJo's Bizarre Adventure during Episode 2; see Unsound Effect.
- Episode 6, during the Shogi game: "If the king doesn't take the lead, his subjects won't follow."
- Zelel uses Ken's two finger vacuum technique to catch and fling back an arrow spat by Gabriel.
- Shout-Out Theme Naming: Several of the angels are named after archangels from Abrahamic religions including Gabriel, Raphiel, Haniel, and Zelel.
- Sleep Cute: Everyone sleeps on the train ride home from the beach. Gabriel eventually falls on Vignette's shoulder to boot.
- Slice of Life: One focused on a group of angels and devils as they integrate into human society.
- Smashing Watermelons: Like any good beach sequence it's done here too, complete with blindfold, baseball bat... and Satanichia's head instead of a watermelon.
- Sick Episode: Chapter 19/the second part of Episode 7 has Vignette fall ill and focuses on her and the others' attempts to deal with it.
- The Stinger:
- Episode 4 plays the credits two-thirds of the way through. The post-credits segment is Chapter 12 of the manga, adapted in its entirety.
- The post-credits scene in Episode 11, where Tapris informs Gab that the latter's elder sister is arriving to Earth in the morning, to Gab's surprise.
- Those Two Girls:
- In Episode 2, a pair of schoolgirls are twice seen witnessing and complimenting on Raphiel's acts of kindness.
- Chapter 39/Episode 8 introduces Tanaka and Ueno of the Cooking Club, who, alongside Class Representative Machiko, whip up two servings of Tanin-don and strawberry parfait each.
- Title Drop: The name of the anime's final episode, "Gabriel DropOut!".
- Trick Bullet: The Devil Python revolver's bullets don't kill but instead make their target laugh uncontrollably for ten minutes.
- Uncleanliness Is Next to Ungodliness: One sign that Gabriel is a fallen angel is how her apartment is so dirty that Vignette jokes about sinners from hell turning it into their residence. It also reflects on her halo, which is entirely covered in thick, black fog. Also played straight (except from the other side) with Vignette herself, who regularly cleans her apartment and is a good person, even though she's a demon.
- Unsound Effect: ゴゴゴ (GO GO GO) plays over the curry and fish dishes made by Gabriel, Vignette and Satanichia in Episode 2.
- Weather Manipulation: In Chapter 11/Episode 4, Raphiel saves the beach trip by pulling some strings to make the weather bright and sunny.
- We Want Our Jerk Back!: Subverted in Episode 12. After being disciplined by her older sister, Gab returns to school as a model student once more. The others are unnerved by it and scheme to get her to return to her old self. As it turns out, Gab was only putting up an act in hopes that her sister will eventually be satisfied and leave her alone.
- Wham Episode: There are two:
- Episode 11 deals with Satania making every possible effort to save the life of the melon-stealing stray dog, who she attempts to adopt to prevent it being sacrificed in a dog pound. It's the first episode that deals with any sort of drama during the original run.
- The second OVA has a stark contrast to the main series, as it deals with the group meeting a legally blind girl whom they befriend after she (correctly) confuses them with angels. They dote her with gifts and keep her company, learning that she's due to undergo eye-correcting surgery to gain her sight. One day, as they intend to meet with her, they realize that she's been involved in a traffic accident and that a car ran her over, leaving her hospitalized and clinging for dear life. Satania and Vigne desperately try to make Raphi and Gab intervene, but they are forbidden to do so by Heavenly mandate, making Satania tearfully berate them for their inaction. Gab, against all mandates and rationalizing that she's a "faillen" angel anyway, restores the girl to health and gives her eyesight back, leaving Satania and Vigne crying Tears of Joy.
