Gabriel DropOut

Episode 6

Satania once again takes center stage in Gabriel DropOut's latest offering. Despite Gabriel's name being in the title, it's now become increasingly clear that her self-proclaimed rival is the show's biggest joke factory. In most of this week's featured stories, the other main characters essentially function as straight men who serve no real purpose outside of setting up Satania for jokes. Fortunately, the result is one of the funniest episodes Gabriel DropOut has given us.

The first half of episode 6 finds Satania attempting to take revenge on Gabriel for all the humiliation she's suffered at her hands—first by purchasing a demonic gun that causes its victims to laugh uncontrollably for ten minutes, next by challenging Gabriel to a game of shogi. Unsurprisingly, both plans backfire in cartoonishly disastrous fashion. After Gabriel pulls a Bugs Bunny and gains possession of the aforementioned gun, she quickly shoots Satania, whose laughter draws the ire of the class's hard-nosed teacher. During the shogi match, Gabriel and Raphiel take advantage of Satania's ignorance of the game to ensure a devastating defeat for their shared victim.

Even if it's a magical weapon, Satania bringing a gun to school and brazenly waving it around in the classroom plays a little differently to an American audience than its original Japanese one. Still, her being duped into purchasing something so impractical from Hell's answer to HSN serves as a perfect example of her hubris getting the best of her. Given the show's track record, there was no question that Satania was going to wind up getting shot with her own weapon, but the setup helped make the predictable payoff feel satisfying.

In the second half, the straight-laced class president finds herself paired up with Satania in art class. When the fussy demon sets out to draw the president's portrait, she forces her partner to go to ridiculous lengths to strike the perfect pose. The fourth segment, which is probably the least Satania-centric of the bunch, revolves around the girls forcing Gabriel to celebrate Halloween with them. Even though Gabriel serves as this segment's main character, a good portion of the jokes still come courtesy of Satania.

Gabriel DropOut really loves its “Satania is arrogant and oblivious” jokes—which thankfully almost always land, even if they've gotten repetitive. To her credit, Satania at least has an inkling that the shogi tactics being employed by Gabriel are bogus, although she seems cowed when referee Raphiel insists that they're fair game, as if Raphiel would ever allow her to come out on top. Even when it looks like Satania might finally score a small victory in the final segment, she suffers yet another defeat at the paws of the melon-bread-stealing dog, much to Raphiel's delight. I also found it interesting that the third segment decided to change things up by making the class president the victim character and Satania the aggressor. Sure, Satania comes off looking bad, but the president is ultimately the one who suffers.

With the season half-finished, I'd have to say that four stories an episode seems like the ideal format for Gabriel DropOut. Each segment is tightly-paced, ensuring that the jokes are fast and to-the-point, whereas the longer-form episodes tend to drag a little. While this format doesn't leave much room for meaningful character development or plot advancement, this isn't the type of show that has any real need for such things.

Rating: A-

Gabriel DropOut is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Amy is an author who has loved anime for over two decades.