Just this Friday, we went to the city because I had to attend orientation, and luckily, we were able to get a free ride because my uncle and his wife were also going there. Of course, since we're just hitching a ride, we need to wake up early in case they want to go there early in the morning. Anyway, let’s skip to the exciting part where our long orientation finally ended. It took almost five hours, and by the time I was able to stand up again, I felt really unmotivated to explore the city further. I already mentioned in my previous blogs how rare it is for me to visit the city, so as much as possible, I make the most out of it. Aside from not having much budget to do so, I also don’t have enough energy to match up with the constantly busy environment it has.
We were about to go home and just call it a day when I suddenly realized how hungry I was. The last time I ate was during my lunch, and it was almost dinner time that time, so it’s no wonder I felt hungry. That’s why we made our way to the mall nearest to the vehicle stop so that when we finished eating, we could ride home immediately. Well, that’s the initial plan because the moment we were inside it, we got distracted with various shops in there. We spent window shopping for the first few minutes, you know, just looking at the products and checking out the prices through the clear glass.
However, there’s this one shop that made us go inside, and that’s VBOX. You probably read it before because my sister already shared her experience in visiting that merch shop. I heard that it sells a lot of nice and affordable toys and anime merch, so I really looked forward to visiting it; however, I didn’t expect that day would be the day!
The moment I went inside of it, I immediately got excited because my eyes were met with different kinds of fan merch! I was mesmerized while scanning the different merch because it’s the first time I’ve bought anime merch in a physical store. Seeing a lot of anime merch—from keychains, cards, ballpens, posters, and plushies to Funko Pop collectibles and figurines—was so overwhelming. The store was quite cramped, so I was really careful not to bump into anything.
Compared to the merch that was present the month my sister visited, there was quite a bit less now. There were a lot more figurines before than what was displayed that day. Anyway, even though there are fewer choices, there is still merch that grabbed my attention. The keychains were really cute, but when I saw their price, I hesitated. I already bought a keychain of the same size and texture for like, a dollar before, and when I saw that those keychains were double the price, I put it back. I’m still on my budget, so I really wanted to buy something that would be worth my money.
I continued with my search, and after looking all over the trinkets, I decided that perhaps there’s really nothing there that would suit my preference. And so, I moved on to the figurines section, which I didn’t want to approach at first because I thought most of them were pricy. However, it seems blessing was on my side because when I almost wanted to give up the intent of buying something, I looked down and saw Naruto character figurines.
And there’s Kakashi ahhhhhhhhh! I was jittery and elated when I saw it because I’ve been looking around for any decent merch of him since the time I entered the shop. He’s in his anbu costume and that definitely makes it better. I don’t care if it’s pricey, as long as I can buy it. It’s already the last of its stock, so I’m really desperate to have it!
I went to the counter to buy it. I’m already thinking about how I will budget my money for the next few weeks after buying that figurine, yet it seems that God loves fangirls because when it’s my turn, I was shocked when I discovered how much it is. It’s just ₱169 ($2.87)! I thought it was more than ₱500 ($8.48), so I was really happy at that moment. It’s really a steal!! And that’s how my Friday side trip ended—with pleasant memor and a super nice addition to my Kakashi merch!
All of the pictures used are mine, while the first picture was edited in Canva.