My Mami & Nagisa Pouch

Hello everyone and welcome back to Tiro Finale where today, we will be taking a look at what is probably the most used Tomoe Mami merchandise that I have in my collection. This memorabilia has been with me through all the years since I have started my Mami collection and still remains to be my one my more practical buys throughout my entire collection history. But for the life of me, I have yet to come up with any reason why I had not featured this particular piece on Tiro Finale after all this time. 

The item in question is a Love! Mami & Nagisa fabric pouch that was released back in 2013 around the time of the release of the theatrical film, Rebellion. Coupled together with a magazine/booklet covering Mami and Nagisa's involvement in the Rebellion story arc, this simple black pouch was one of the many promotional merchandise released in conjunction with the film. 

Looking at it from the outside, it is indeed a very simple looking black fabric pouch. The front has a small leatherette badge stating "Love! Mami & Nagisa" while, the back is just a plain black fabric canvas.

Two zips are for the two separate compartments of the pouch which allows for some degree of separation for the items that you want to place within. This was a neat feature that I only discovered after purchasing the pouch/magazine combo and it has served me very well ever since.

To illustrate the mechanism of the dual compartment system better, the above picture would serve as a very good explanation. The pouch itself is essentially a longer rectangular pouch with a stitch in the middle serving as the folding point to form a smaller, more compact pouch. But, that is not the only purpose of splitting up this otherwise simple pouch, as there is one other little trick hidden up the sleeve of this item. 

Flip the pouch around and the interior reveals two special designs dedicated to Mami and Bebe. You could imagine my excitement when I first found out about this unique design feature! Till today, this remains to be one of my favorite anime-related pouches because of its unassuming design from the outside which allows it to be used inconspicuously on a daily basis while hiding a greater feature on the inside. 

One half of the interior design features a clapperboard inspired design with the adorable Bebe dancing on it. I really love this design as it provides a degree of individuality in the "Character" field while still alluding to the nature of the Rebellion storyline being a feature length film.

The second half of the interior design features an iconic scene in the film between Bebe and Mami. This scene occurs while Mami is hosting a tea party at her place together with Madoka and Homura. There, Mami mentions how she would have given up a long time ago if it was not for the support of Bebe. This emotional moment brings a slight tear to Mami's eyes and Bebe is quick to comfort her by stating how Mami is always such a cry baby. Bebe's unique incoherent bubble speech is subtitled on the side and is another super adorable aspect of Bebe. 

This pouch sees such frequent use from my side as it is primary travel pouch. The size is just right to be hold all my necessary travel essentials while still being able to fit comfortably in my hands and in a carry-on bag. Within it, is another pouch that I use to carry foreign currency and several important cards. By holding a fair amount of foreign currency to my most frequented countries, this ensures I never have to look far when packing for travels and also serves as an emergency reserve of cash.

Speaking of emergency, there is also a small power bank equipped with a torch that follows the pouch wherever it goes. When commuting for a long duration, one can never reliably rely on there being an available power source. While I do carry a dedicated power bank with me, this one serves as a backup in case I lose the first one or it runs out of juice. 

Other accessories inside the pouch include two small capacity flash drives. While I do not have a great reason for bringing them with me, the fact that they are such a universal standard of data transfer without the need for internet means that you can never underestimate the utility of these devices. Moreover, their small footprint means I hardly ever notice its presence until it is needed. 

Travel documents often need to be filled up when embarking to a new country and for this reason, pens are an indispensable resource. I always bring a few with me, just in case. Aside from the ones mentioned above, there are of course other situational items too such as passports, keys and travel cards.

Exclusive to the other pouch are a set of portable toiletries. Most recently, I have a small toothbrush and toothpaste set to ensure I never miss out on dental hygiene. On longer trips, I make sure to top up with other toiletries too but, never too much that the pouch starts to become a burden. 

Despite the thousands of kilometers that this pouch has traveled together with me, it still remains to be in excellent condition especially the designs on the inside which are carefully protected. The simple black exterior makes for the perfect unassuming pouch while its compact size makes it the ideal travel partner. For an item I bought on a whim, this has certainly turned out to be one of my most useful purchases in this hobby. While function may not often be the name of the game when it comes to character merchandise collection, pieces like this help me bring a piece of Mami with me wherever I go.

With that, we have come to the end of this article. It sure is nice to be writing about Mami once more. After all, the blog is named Tiro Finale. Though the lack of Mami merchandise recently has seen me be unable to crop up new Mami-related content, I have a feeling all of that will come to pass soon as I prepare for an influx of new Mami merchandise coming soon. Until then, thank you so much for reading and have yourself a wonderful day ahead!