Gabriel Dropout – Episode 2

“The Angel, the Demon, and the Class President”

Vignette (demon) and Gabriel (angel) invite Satanichia (demon) to eat lunch with them for the first time in the cafeteria. Back in the classroom, 1-B’s student president is perplexed when she accidentally overhears Gabriel talking about a report she has to submit to heaven. Later in the day Vignette becomes frustrated when she tries to deal with Gabriel and Satanichia during a cooking class.

KimmieKawaii

For those of you who read my comments about the premiere episode, I was pretty judgmental about Gabriel Dropout. My biggest complaint was how the episode relied on an abundance of fanservice to intrigue viewers. Whenever a series is saturated with fanservice, it makes me question if the writers fear the rest of the content presented isn’t enough to drive the story. Well, episode 2 (surprisingly) was able to pull off an entire episode with no fanservice and still be entertaining.

I’m still not at all sold on this series though. With no detailed backstory for the majority of characters, they have been reduced to one note, stereotypical fodder. Because of this, viewers can surmise how a character will react towards any given situation. In fact, Weekend Otaku anticipated a few things that came to pass. Naturally, this predictability made for a rather dull viewing experience.

Overall, I’m not holding out that this series will see much more growth. It is likely that every episode from here on will mirror the rest. At this point, all that is managing to keep me even remotely interested is the demon character, Satanichia. Like the rest, I know practically nothing about her past. What I do know is that her naive ways lead to her getting tricked often and it is absolutely hilarious.

Good
– Episode wasn’t saturated with fanservice.
– Animation and music is consistently well done.
– Entertaining comic relief character in Satanichia.

Bad
– Stereotypical characters
– Little backstory makes it difficult to become emotionally invested in cast.

WeekendOtaku

Compared to last week, Gabriel Dropout comes off a little more subdued in both its humor and gimmicky content. Gabriel is still unmotivated to do anything but at least she’s attending class with Vignette and the others and putting in the minimum effort. It also gives her more contact with Satania, against whom the rivalry and pranking is pretty one sided (only Satania recognizes the rivalry and only Gabriel pulls pranks).

The one note personalities is what holds this episode back the most. Satania is an overconfident dummy, Vignette is constantly disappointed, Raphiel is a conniving bully, and Gabriel has no motivation. With the extra focus on the others this episode we don’t get to see as much of Gabriel as we did in ep 1. They will need to spend a little time rounding her out soon if she’s going to carry the series, but having more interaction between the characters does keep things entertaining as they all react in different ways.

It remains to be seen if anything more interesting comes out of this. So far I’m pretty sure all we can anticipate is a field trip/beach episode and cultural festival.

Good 
– Amusing scenes between Gabriel, Vignette, and Satania

Bad
– Absolutely nothing is happening

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This post is part of our seasonal episodic review series. To view all the posts in this series, click the following link: Viewing Party