Manga 96526 Gabriel Dropout

Whether or not you've seen the anime, Gabriel DropOut is definitely a manga worth trying if you're a fan of the CGDCT (cute girls doing cute things) and/or comedy genres. If you HAVE seen the anime and want more, then I'll tell you right now that the manga's quality is about the same as the anime and that should be enough to tell you it's worth reading.

Story: There really isn't one. Gabriel DropOut is a mostly episodic series about angels and demons and their everyday lives on Earth (and occasionally heaven or hell). There are occasions where new characters are introduced and the characters' relationships ... and interactions do have a little bit of development, but nothing really major or dramatic.

Art: The art is great, it's pretty much everything it needs to be for this type of manga. It's very expressive and consistently of high quality.

Characters: The characters (and the cuteness and comedy that arise from their interactions) are obviously the main draw of Gabriel DropOut. Let me just say I absolutely LOVE the cast of Gabriel DropOut. They're probably my favorite set of characters from any CGDCT manga or anime. There's something to love about every one of the main four girls. While some people feel Satania is the clear best, I think a case could be made for any one of the main four as best girl. And I think any one of the main four characters WOULD be the best girl if you stuck her in an average series of the same genre.

Gabriel was my personal favorite, her lazy, sarcastic, and indifferent attitude was something I found both hilarious and sometimes relatable.

I definitely get why everyone loves Satania and I love her too. Seeing her attempts to be evil come back to bite her in the ass or be ridiculed by Gab or Raphi is arguably the driving force behind the humor in the manga. Some people may find her being "bullied" a bit mean-spirited, but I personally didn't. After all, she never seems to learn and constantly talks herself up in ways she can't possibly back up.

Vigne is the "straight man" of the group so to speak and the most well-behaved of the characters, something which gives her inner conflict since she's a demon and supposed to be evil. Her attempts to act more like a demon are often wholesomely adorable and hilarious.

Finally, there's Raphi, the least well-liked of the girls, but probably my second favorite. Her sadistic side and the way she bullies Satania seems to rub some people the wrong way, but the series would not be as funny without her (and I can't stress enough that the "bullying" is portrayed as completely non-serious slapstick comedy).

While all four characters stick somewhat to their tropes, I just found the comedy and character interactions within those tropes to be executed far better than most series in the slice-of-life/CGDCT genre. Basically, Gabriel DropOut isn't THAT unique, it just does what it does better than everyone else in its genre.

The side characters are great as well and their presence in the series isn't over or underutilized. Master and Machiko were my favorite side characters. The misunderstandings between them (being normal humans) and the main four girls (angels and demons) were consistently amusing.

Enjoyment: I obviously adore Gabriel DropOut. It's both a funny and relaxing read every time a new volume comes out and I hope we get as many chapters and volumes of this wonderful series as possible. It's something I can read to unwind and relieve stress and its mere existence makes me just a little bit happier.

And that's about it. Again, I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys comedy, cute girls, and a relaxing, episodic slice-of-life manga. Not everyone will love it as much as I did, but I think it's worth a try for everyone and most will end up enjoying it much more than not.

Gabriel Dropout is a Slice of life manga for anyone who hates change and loves Boredom! Here's why:

Gabriel Dropout is a CGDCT comedy manga.
It's about the angel Gabriel, once top of her class on heaven, now lazy slob in the human world and video game addicted Hiki NEET. She's accompanied by her fellow angel Raphiel and the two demons Vignette and Satanichia.

Story: There is no story, in fact even for slice of life Standards both the world and the characters change shockingly little. You could legitimately skip from chapter 5 to chapter 70 without feeling like you missed something. This is disappointing when considering that ... the characters at the beginning of the manga are all very flat.

Characters: All characters, the main cast and the side characters, are basically two liners. Either they act like you'd expect them to, or on some instances they act slightly different but fall back to their original act immediately. With a relatively small cast Gabriel Dropout runs out of unique moments fairly quickly as the dynamics never change. Sure, some new characters are introduced, but they feel as one dimensional as the rest.

Some of the dynamics are even toxic and unlikeable, for example the dynamic between Satania and Raphiel. Their whole shtick is that Satania is overconfident and loud and Raphiel has a fake smile and bullies Satania a lot. Both very flawed personalities who don't come over as cute. So it's not really even Cute Girls doing Cute things, it's more like Girls backstabbing each other and annoying each other but still getting along because their script gets restarted every morning.

World: Except for some scenarios in hell and heaven the world never gets expanded or built upon. You could fit all scenes of this manga on a stage without needing change of scenery. So no world building.

Art: It's ok, not great not terrible.

Summary: I wasn't entertained by Gabriel Dropout. Waiting for the pace to pick up was a useless endeavor, so if you think the manga is boring in the first few chapters then you can drop it without worry. Gabriel is the same old lazy, selfish bumfuck. I see some people adore her which i can only explain by assuming they see themselves in her.
Satania, the only character with any ambitions, gets shut down in every chapter in a very salty and unflattering way. I did not find the comedy in recycling this concept for 93 chapters, but i thought it was a good representation for the manga's pace overall: Don't let anything interesting happen, because that's uncool or something.

5/10 There is worse.