Gishiki aka The Ceremony Sonata Premiere

The Ceremony tells the tale of the death of the patriarch of a family (“relatives who do not see each other, except for weddings and funerals” we are told) bringing two such members back for a funeral, Masuo and Ritsuko. While on the journey home, Masuo in particular attempts to relive the events that brought him there, and takes himself back to the immediate aftermath of the war, when he left Manchuria, the occupied state in which he was born, to return home in infancy. The conversation between Masuo and Ritsuko brings back many painful memories, and centres around the character of Setsuko, aunt to Masuo, who wills herself to death, and the reasons for it.