It seems fundamentally unfair to describe someone who literally lives in a library and spends her entire existence studying esoteric texts as being "not in education".

zgryphon said:

It seems fundamentally unfair to describe someone who literally lives in a library and spends her entire existence studying esoteric texts as being "not in education".

I believe the "Not in Education" refers to if they are students or literally in Education of some sort. The weirder thing is the "not in employment" since she is the librarian of the manor so that would technically be her title and thus job, so she is employed.

Keo said:

I believe the "Not in Education" refers to if they are students or literally in Education of some sort.

Well, it's not as if the world she lives in has a university. What's she supposed to do, go to the temple school in the village? I mean, that would be funny, but not all that productive. :)

The weirder thing is the "not in employment" since she is the librarian of the manor so that would technically be her title and thus job, so she is employed.

Mm, true. I don't know if she gets paid, though. Come to think of it, I'm not sure anyone in Gensokyo gets paid.

Keo said:

I believe the "Not in Education" refers to if they are students or literally in Education of some sort. The weirder thing is the "not in employment" since she is the librarian of the manor so that would technically be her title and thus job, so she is employed.

She is the librarian in the sense that she manages and maintains the library, but the library belongs to her, not Remilia. She lives in the mansion as Remilia's guest and friend, not as her servant. She is very much unemployed and "Librarian" is more of a technicality title than an occupation.

zgryphon said:

Well, it's not as if the world she lives in has a university. What's she supposed to do, go to the temple school in the village? I mean, that would be funny, but not all that productive. :)

Mm, true. I don't know if she gets paid, though. Come to think of it, I'm not sure anyone in Gensokyo gets paid.

She isn't actively in any sort of education (Schooling), and she lives in scarlet devil mansion. She isn't employed by remilia whatsoever and simply just lives there because they're friends, and sort of unofficially is the "keeper" of the library.

zgryphon said:

It seems fundamentally unfair to describe someone who literally lives in a library and spends her entire existence studying esoteric texts as being "not in education".

I'd say that she's more technically a hikikomori than a NEET. And is perhaps the poster girl for illustrating the difference.

Perfect Memento says it's her job (the language is somewhat up to interpretation, but leans toward it being a duty or responsibility of some kind, and not an assessment of her character or unspoken social role) to "resolve problems" and "cause problems," so there's a good chance she is actually employed by Remilia as a live-in wizard of sorts. It also mentions that she has authored numerous books on magic, making her a (self-)published academic author. Finally, what Patchy does day-to-day could be understood as being the witch equivalent of being an independent research scientist, which is a recognised occupation.

It's hard to call Patchouli "unemployed," is what I'm saying. She may or may not be employed by anyone, but being self-employed is still having a job.