#gundo mirei

Kataribe’s Curse - Part 5

I will be more eloquent here as this also serves as the memorial post for Gundo Mirei.

There was an article that I read during my research into Gundo’s various controversies which posited that Gundo might be an Oujo, or a ‘rich gal’. And I could see that, especially with her increase in travel, which is something shared with Akane, the graduate before her.

But unlike Akane, Gundo seems to be a caring Oujo, whose carelessness is an act to hide the deep love and care she has for her friends. In fact, the Oujo-samas of Nijisanji, namely Rion and Salome and perhaps Hisui too, seem to be more caring ones. Unlike Ayame, who even though I am dear to her, always seems to have her head in the clouds.

I wrote before that Gundo was the loud embarrassing aunt of Nijisanji, and that’s how I will remember her. She was the aunt that would drink and make the dirtiest joke at the worst places, but oddly someone you will think up first when you are feeling down, even though you suspect she is not the best influence on yourself, because she was oddly comforting.

You could sense her love and warmth wafting around with the smell of booze and whatever person she was sleeping with a few days ago, and it made you feel calm for some reason.

I think this is why we’ll miss her. Some will miss her as an emblem of this nebulous concept of freedom that America loves so much, but this kind of fetishization has misled me too much. There’s enough sentimentality in the world to focus on abstract concepts sometimes.