Christmas Festivities
Creative Staff
Story: UMAKI
Art: UMAKI
Translation: Caleb D. Cook
What they say
For an angel who wants nothing more than to idle away her days, Gabriel’s leading quite the hectic life! After sampling some candy Satanya ordered from the Hell Shopping Network, Gabriel starts feeling a little strange, and Satanya begins to look cuter and cuter. It doesn’t take long for her to realize she’s fallen in love with her devilish classmate, but she’s still got a whole school day to get through! With her new crush constantly pestering her, will Gabriel be able to make it through five hours of induced infatuation?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I’ve always thought Yen Press’ blurbs for a slice of life series like Gabriel Dropout were a bit silly. The description actually only covers the first chapter, which was admittedly really, really funny. Gabriel ends up eating a candy Satanya bought, which results in her falling in love. Yes, the “accidentally took a love potion” has been done a lot, but I still find it funny at times. It helps that Gabriel is usually the one getting the better of Satanya. Seeing our resident wannabe devil lord unwittingly get the best of Gabriel made for a nice change of pace.
After chapter 1, each chapter follows the characters along as they go through everyday life. The second chapter is actually about a hungry Gabriel who doesn’t know how she’s gonna feed herself because, apparently, she spent too much on microtransactions for her MMO. It’s a good thing the Class President comes around. Gabriel ends up traveling with her to the cooking club, where she is fed plenty of delicious food. While this chapter was cute, I don’t think there was anything really laugh-worthy. However, the next chapter is a bit better.
If there’s one thing I like about Gabriel Dropout aside from the cute artwork and silly characters, it’s how certain minor characters show up again every so often—like the guy who owns the coffee shop Gabriel works at. It was funny when Tapris and Rafael showed up and he tried to show them how adults converse… he made a complete fool of himself, but the two girls seemed to take him seriously.
The best part about this volume, however, had to be the introduction of a new character. One day, Tapris is walking to school when a girl drops her pitch-black handkerchief. Being the nice angel that she is, Tapris picks it up and offers it to the girl who is dressed in all black, has creepy toys hanging from her backpack, and looks like something the Goth dragged in. The next day, Tapris arrives at school to find a demonic ritual on her desk. She finds a teddy bear with a knife in its head the day after that. Then she finds a creepy demonic statue the day after that. At first, she thinks this girl is declaring war on her. It’s not until she confronts the girl that she learns it was actually her way of saying thank you.
By the way, this girl is actually a demon.
In Summary
As the chapters continue, some of them are funny and some of them are relaxing. I loved when Vigne told the story of how Gabriel became a Fallen Angel. It was cute. However, I think the scene where Satanya and Gabriel spy on Rafael as she goes about her day was hilarious. I also don’t remember some of this content from the anime, so it means we have unadapted content to enjoy.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Releasrighted By: Yen Press
Release Date: October 30, 2018
MSRP: $12.99
