Gabriel DropOut

Another spectacular slice of life comedy from Doga Kobo. This anime feels like a twin sibling to Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, but one of the siblings is emo and just different enough to be considered a separate personality.

As much as I'm a sucker for comfy slice of life anime with cute girls, I find it increasingly difficult to review them in a way that doesn't make them sound bland as ever. I really do like the genre as a way to wind down and relax at the end of the day, maybe get a few smiles before going to bed, but I understand why some people may consider it boring. It's not something I particularly find myself watching in the middle of the day when I'm bored. There's rarely any story and it can be very mindless entertainment at times. All that said, I'll still attempt to review this gem sprouted from the moe slice of life mines.

Slice of life, as I stated, rarely has a story. It's easier to re-class story in slice of life reviews more as a premise. The premise of Gabriel Dropout is unique, and not overly fantasized, something I don't really care for in anime, especially when it's been done to death since anime was ever a thing. The setting allows for many laughs to consistently be had in every episode, so Gabriel Dropout succeeds in being comedic. Between the unique dynamics of character interactions and the tongue-in-cheek fanservice that just gets comedically strange at times, there's never a stale moment in this anime.

I'm a fan of Doga Kobo's style. It's clean, the animations are lively, and the setting/background art isn't half bad. It's obviously no Kyoto Animation Koe no Katachi tier of artwork, but it's definitely above average when compared to many anime of the same era. Doga Kobo was not responsible for this, but the character design is very nice as well. Distinct family traits and unique appearances with minimal reliance on stereotypical neon pink anime girl hair designs and whatnot.

Sound isn't terribly important for comedy, but I'm giving Gabriel Dropout a good rating for a nice OP/ED.

Aside from the physical artistic design of the characters, they're written uniquely and lively. Every character is extremely distinct from one another, even within their own families. Obviously they rarely act realistic and human-like, as this is a comedic anime. Plenty of wacky shit happens that just makes this a fantastic comedy. As I mentioned earlier, the synergy between any given character really works well and makes every character likable in their own ways.

Overall, this was one of the anime I reserved for watching before bed to just relax at the end of the day and have a few laughs. There's not a whole lot to say about Gabriel Dropout besides it being funny and having a relatively good production value. I might even look into reading the manga, as I could see myself craving more of these hilarious characters in the near future. I'm not really a manga person, but this was definitely an enjoyable watch that caught my interest and kept me interested through every episode. A good watch if you enjoy comedy or slice of life.