#and specifically how it's framed within re:member

[keicordelle]

okay okay more half baked thoughts on the Re:vale sandwich

Re: the Yuki-filled center:

When Ruri drags Momo out to his first Re:vale concert, she talks about how she always stands on the one side of the venue because that's Ban's side, and "that's how they're always positioned". Which is not really surprising, it makes sense for a duo-group to have dedicated sides. It's always Yuki on the left, Banri on the right

(side note, it's outside the scope of this post, but this same left-right division is maintained through most of the panels that feature the two of them together in volume 1, and that almost certainly Means Something, but that's a thought for another day)

Anyway. Yukimomo Re:vale also has default sides to stand on and uh

Momo doesn't replace Ban, he stands at Yuki's other side. I wonder if this was intentional on his part, the decision not to stand in Ban's place. Knowing that he always intended to cede that spot to Banri once they found him. Insisting that his place always be on Yuki's right -- so that he didn't feel like he was stepping on Ban's toes, and maybe so that he never got too comfortable with the idea of taking Ban's place.

Of course, there's symbolism in Yuki now being in Ban's place, too. Yuki's the one now taking on the role of the dependable, mature lead (in his own eyes, at least). He wants to take care of Momo the way Ban took care of him, so he steps into Ban's role and his position. (There's something here with the age gap too. Momo is Yuki's junior by as much as Yuki is Ban's junior, making it an easy, lateral shift from one pair to the other.)

Anyway. Once again we find Yuki in the middle of the Re:vale sandwich, caught between past and present -- and once again, we find Banri on the outside, entirely free and separate from the homage/roleplay that Momo and Yuki are doing in modern Re:vale: filling his spot while simultaneously leaving it empty.

I have Thoughts about Momo's hair and how it firmly places him as an intermediary between Yuki and Ban. Blue for Ban, white for Yuki. And also how that may or may not play into Yuki being sandwiched by Momo and Ban in terms of their numbers: 100 - 1000 - 10.000. And there's probably something else there Ban focused that I'm missing because i feel like that would complete the trinity really nicely, and that would be very fitting for the three of them

Then again maybe there's something to be said about Ban not having a center-of-the-sandwich moment. Momo and Yuki both can't let him go: Yuki can't help but be drawn to him -- it's in his very essence to chase after him and pine for him -- while Momo makes a conscious decision to bridge the gap between them.

And Momo can't help the similarities to Ban -- his hair is blue naturally that's just who he is. But he goes out of his way to add the white. To be the intermediary