Princess Kate had a funny comeback after a group of schoolchildren discussed having to return to school after the summer holidays. Speaking to the schoolchildren as she left her visit to Sudbury Silk Mills in Suffolk, Kate asked them if if they were happy to be back at school.
The schoolchildren told the royal that they were in Year 5 and Year 6, which is the same school year as 10-year-old Princess Charlotte. Kate – who was wearing a necklace sporting all three of her children’s initials – told them: “Thank you for coming to say hi. Is it nice being back at school?”
In unison the pupils replied: “No!”, to which Kate replied, “No!”. The girls laughed at her response, to which Kate then said, “That must have meant you had a really good holiday.”
One of the girls then told her: “Kind of”, to which Kate repeated, “Kind of,” before moving to shake hands with other well-wishers in the crowd.
The Prince and Princess of Wales’s three children – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis – all returned to Lambrook School this week.
Now aged 12, George has entered his final year at the school. It remains unclear which school he will attend next year – but Eton College is said to be in the running.
The couple returned to work after spending the summer holidays with their children on September 4.
Discussing their children during a separate engagement at the Women’s Institute in Sunningdale on September 8, Prince William was asked if their youngest son is “a bit of a handful”.
William responded: “He’s a character, but he’s a very good boy. He likes to wind his brother and sister up.”
Kate – also speaking of George, Charlotte and Louis – revealed that she and her children were “crafting in every corner of the house” during the summer holidays.
Amazon has suspended a Palestinian software engineer who criticized the company’s business ties with Israel through internal communications, according to CNBC reports. Ahmed Shahrour, who works for Amazon’s Whole Foods division in Seattle, was placed on paid suspension following posts on company Slack channels and a letter to executives including CEO Andy Jassy.“It has come to Amazon’s attention that a post you made in multiple internal company Slack channels may violate multiple policies,” Shahrour received in a message from an Amazon HR rep, per CNBC. The company, as per the message, is said to be investigating the matter. The suspension centres on Shahrour’s opposition to Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion joint cloud computing contract between Amazon, Google, and the Israeli government launched in 2021. In his letter to leadership, the three-year Amazon employee described living in “constant dissonance” while writing code for a company whose profits he believes support Israeli actions in Gaza.
Shahrour alleges Amazon has systematically suppressed pro-Palestinian employee voices, claiming the company recently warned an engineer for sharing articles about American doctors volunteering in Gaza and terminated a French employee for social media criticism of Israel. He also reports selective content moderation in workplace channels, with pro-Palestinian discussions removed from “Arabs at Amazon” groups while anti-Palestinian posts remain visible elsewhere.Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser declined to address Shahrour’s specific case but said the company doesn’t “tolerate discrimination, harassment, or threatening behavior or language of any kind.” The company revoked Shahrour’s access to email and tools while conducting its investigation.
Similar protests hit Google, Microsoft also
Shahrour’s suspension follows a wave of employee terminations at other major tech companies over Israel-related protests. Microsoft fired four workers in August 2025 after they demonstrated at company headquarters, including two who staged a sit-in at President Brad Smith’s office. The terminated employees were part of the “No Azure for Apartheid” campaign demanding Microsoft cut ties with Israel.Google took similar action earlier, terminating 28 employees in April 2024 following coordinated protests against Project Nimbus at the company’s offices. The demonstrations targeted both the Israeli government contract and internal labor conditions. The two companies have since increased security measures at their offices and conferences.
The lunar eclipse as seen from Louis Trichardt on Sunday night.
News Date: 12 September 2025
Traditional leaders and healers say Sunday night’s lunar eclipse is a sign of prosperity, good harvests and peace for Africa in the years ahead.
After the weekend’s total eclipse of the moon, African traditionalists, traditional leaders and traditional healers held gatherings to thank their ancestors for showing them signs of success and prosperity in the coming years.
Although a partial lunar eclipse occurs about twice a year, a full eclipse is rarer, happening on average once every two-and-a-half years. A total lunar eclipse takes place when the sun, earth and moon are in perfect alignment, with the earth’s shadow completely covering the moon.
Sunday’s eclipse was also referred to as a “blood moon”, because of the reddish colour of the moon during the eclipse. This visual effect occurs when the earth’s atmosphere filters sunlight and scatters blue light, leaving the moon glowing red or coppery.
According to Mbulaheni Neluvhola, president of the Vhembe District Traditional Healers Association, a lunar eclipse is seen as a sign from the gods that there will be abundant rainfall, good harvests and protection from evil spirits. “A lunar eclipse is a sign from our ancestors that good fortune is coming our way. It signals the end of bad luck and the beginning of a new era of success and prosperity,” he said.
When asked whether the expected good fortune also included the end of wars and diseases affecting people, he said everything became normalised after a lunar eclipse.
Tshivhonammbi Netshivhambe, a well-known traditional leader who often discusses traditional medicine and healing on national radio, described a lunar eclipse as a divine message. She acknowledged that scientists could easily explain the phenomenon and predict when it would occur, but said African belief had a different perspective.
“It is a way our ancestors communicate with us about the changing of times from drought to rainy seasons. I cannot dispute what they [scientists] have learned or know on their side, but we have our own knowledge and beliefs as Africans. Our ancestors have been relying on these beliefs long before those who wrote what you are telling me came to Mother Africa. Let them keep their knowledge, we will keep our ancestral knowledge,” she said.
Indigenous traditional healer and provincial tourist guide Mashudu Dima, an expert in indigenous knowledge systems and traditional healing, believes traditional knowledge is superior to any other.
Dima concurred with the other two traditional healers but added that Africans had been predicting weather patterns and reading the movements of stars, the sun, the earth and the moon long before colonisation. “As I am talking to you now, I predict the weather daily through my ancestors. As traditional healers, we can also see whether there will be rain or not in the coming months,” he said.
He added that another lunar eclipse was expected in December this year, which he believed would open doors for peace processes on the African continent. “The problem we have as Africans is that Europeans dismiss everything we do through our own spiritual powers, and this derails the progress of Africans on our own continent,” he said.
Dima concluded by saying that there would be plenty of rain in the next five years, and that because of the upcoming lunar eclipse, Africa would be saved from poverty and wars.
When Deghareg Bekele, an architect in his early 30s, bought an Volkswagen electric car this year, he was a little sceptical. Not only is his home town, the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, prone to persistent power cuts, he also doubted the quality of his new vehicle.
Four months on, Deghareg is pleased with his purchase since he no longer has to endure long lines at the petrol pump, caused by Ethiopia’s chronic fuel shortages.
“I’d have to wait two to three hours, even if I got there in the early morning, and they often run out of petrol before it’s your turn,” he says. “Having an EV saves me lots of time. I have no regrets.”
Architect Deghareg Bekele at an EV charging station in Addis Ababa. Photograph: Fred Harter
Until recently, electric vehicles were almost unheard of in Ethiopia. But last year it became the first country to ban imports of combustion engine vehicles. Now, EVs are a common sight in the capital. The most prevalent brand is China’s BYD, which recently overtook Tesla as the world’s largest EV maker, although western vehicles are also popular.
Roughly 115,000 EVs now ply Ethiopia’s roads, out of a total of 1.5m cars in the country, according to the transport ministry. It wants to increase the number to 500,000 by 2030.
Ethiopia is an unlikely proponent of the transition to EVs. Roughly half of its 126 million people have no access to electricity, only 20% of households have access to it for at least 23 hours a day and only a third of households have access through the grid. Power cuts mean many factories are not fully operational.
These shortages will be alleviated to an extent following the opening of the Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam earlier this month, 14 years after construction began. With a maximum capacity of 5,150 megawatts, it will double Ethiopia’s current electricity output – 97% of which already comes from hydropower.
But problems remain with the national grid, which is prone to outages and will cost billions of dollars to expand to rural communities currently cut off from power.
“We have massive potential in renewables,” says Bareo Hassen, state minister for transport. He says the decision to ban imports of diesel and petrol vehicles is part of Ethiopia’s push to promote green policies and reduce the pollution that chokes the capital during rush hour.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile River in Guba, north-west Ethiopia, which came online this month. Photograph: Anadolu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
But the main motivation is economic, however. Ethiopia spends roughly $4.5bn (£3.3bn) a year importing fuel – a huge amount in a country where foreign currency is scarce and poverty is widespread. “It is one of our main expenditures,” says Bareo.
By contrast, Ethiopia’s hydropower is cheap as well as green. This has helped to win over doubtful drivers in Addis Ababa, who have seen pump prices more than double in the past three years.
Firew Tilahun, a taxi driver, estimates he used to spend 20,000 Ethiopian birr (£105) a month on fuel, a significant chunk of his earnings. Now he spends less than 3,000 birr a month recharging his Chinese EV.
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“I have no plan to change back,” he says as he tops up his battery at a new charging station in Addis Ababa. “Sometimes we have power cuts, but we manage.”
To encourage the take-up of EVs, Ethiopia has granted them sweeping tax exemptions. They are still hugely expensive, with a BYD model costing roughly 2.2m Ethiopian birr (£11,000) in a country where doctors earn £60 a month on average. But combustion engine cars also fetch sky-high prices, the result of import levies of 200% in place before their ban, which wildly distorted the secondhand vehicle market.
Ethiopia is also encouraging local production, but for now the scale is small. One of the main sites is run by Belayneh Kinde Group, an industrial conglomerate with a site on the western outskirts of Addis Ababa, where mechanics are assembling 150 Chinese minibuses in a large hangar.
Electric vehicles are assembled at a plant on the outskirts of Addis Ababa. Photograph: Fred Harter
“Our focus shouldn’t just be on importation,” says Bareo. “We wanted to create a local production capacity to create local skills and job opportunities for our citizens.”
The abrupt transition to EVs has been uneven, however. Drivers complain they were given little time to prepare. Ethiopia only has just over 100 charging stations out of a target of more than 2,300, compared with 21,600 in London. Almost all of them are in Addis Ababa. This rules out road trips to the countryside, where power cuts are particularly frequent. It also makes owning an EV hugely impractical outside the capital.
Lema Wakgari charging his electric car. He says there needs to be more charging stations. Photograph: Fred Harter
At another charging station in Addis Ababa, Lema Wakgari, a coffee export manager, says he’s “really happy” with his BYD, but laments that he cannot drive to Hawassa, a popular lakeside resort a 177-mile (285km) drive south from Addis Ababa, without running the risk of getting stranded.
“They need to build more charging stations – it’s a must,” he says. “Even in Addis there aren’t many available. No electric vehicles are driving outside the city right now. This car can go 420km. After that, what are you going to do?”
There are also no plans to bring in electric versions of the heavy lorries that bring a large proportion of Ethiopia’s imports from the port in neighbouring Djibouti. As the fleet begins to dwindle from wear and tear, the economy may feel the effects.
The chief executive of a large ride-hailing company in Addis Ababa says most of his drivers are sceptical about the durability of the vehicle’s batteries and how their value will hold up. But he has been won over after buying one himself and hopes the country’s EV infrastructure will catch up to meet demand.
“When this policy was introduced, I thought it would be a spectacular failure because we don’t have good power infrastructure, we have a lot of power outages and not many charging stations,” he says.
Harry Brook’s England will face a must-win situation when they take the field against South Africa in the second T20I of the three-match series on Friday at Old Trafford, Manchester. The first match, which was a rain-curtailed affair, saw Aiden Markram and his team come out on top and gain a 1-0 lead. However, much can’t be read into the outcome as the conditions were pretty wet in Cardiff, and it was just a case of England’s batters not being able to get going.
South Africa will take on England in the 2nd T20I on Friday. (AFP)
However, England must get their act together if they are to level the three-match series. The hosts also rested Jofra Archer at the last minute, considering the wet conditions in Cardiff. The pacer is expected to make a comeback into the lineup for the second T20I.
Squads:
England: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler(w), Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook(c), Tom Banton, Will Jacks, Sam Curran, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, Luke Wood, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Jamie Smith, Rehan Ahmed
South Africa: Aiden Markram(c), Ryan Rickelton(w), Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Dewald Brevis, Tristan Stubbs, Donovan Ferreira, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, Lungi Ngidi, Lizaad Williams, Kagiso Rabada, Senuran Muthusamy.
Here are all the telecast and streaming details for the second T20I between England and South Africa:
When will the 2nd T20I between England and South Africa take place?
The 2nd T20I between England and South Africa will take place on Friday, September 12, at 11 PM IST, with the toss scheduled for 10:30 PM IST.
Where will the 2nd T20I between England and South Africa take place?
The 2nd T20I between England and South Africa will take place at Old Trafford in Manchester.
Which channels will broadcast the 2nd T20I between England and South Africa?
The 2nd T20I between England and South Africa will be telecast live on the Sony Sports Network.
Where will live streaming for the 2nd T20I between England and South Africa be available?
The 2nd T20I between England and South Africa will be streamed live on the SonyLiv app and website.
Apple has introduced the AirPods Pro 3 wireless headphones, featuring a live translation capability that enables face-to-face conversations across nine different languages. Olivia Palamountain reports
For millions who’ve fumbled through foreign conversations with phrase books and translation apps, Apple’s new AirPods Pro 3 promise to eliminate language barriers entirely – offering real-time translation that transforms any wearer into a multilingual communicator capable of seamless face-to-face conversations across nine languages.
The live translation feature works hands-free and is powered by computational audio and Apple Intelligence to help users communicate naturally. When both users wear AirPods with Live Translation enabled, the active noise cancellation lowers the volume of the other person speaking to help focus on the translation. For conversations where only one person has AirPods, users can display live transcription on their iPhone screen in the other person’s preferred language.
Live Translation supports English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish initially, with four additional languages – Italian, Japanese, Korean and Chinese (simplified) – coming by the end of the year. The feature is available in beta. Priced at US$249, the AirPods Pro 3, customers in the US and more than 50 other countries and regions can pre-order the headphones now, with availability in stores beginning September 19.
The AirPods Pro 3 also include a custom heart rate sensor that measures blood flow using invisible infrared light pulsed 256 times per second. Combined with accelerometers, gyroscope, GPS and on-device AI, users can track over 50 different workout types and monitor heart rate and calories burned through the Fitness app on iPhone.
Apple says the new earphones deliver “the world’s best Active Noise Cancellation of any in-ear wireless headphones,” removing up to twice as much noise as the previous AirPods Pro generation and four times more than the original AirPods Pro. The enhanced noise cancellation uses ultra-low noise microphones, advanced computational audio, and new foam-infused ear tips.John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, comments: “With AirPods Pro 3, the most popular headphones take a massive leap forward, providing fantastic sound quality and the world’s best ANC of any in-ear wireless headphones. Combined with an improved fit that provides greater stability for even more people, heart rate sensing, extended battery life, and Live Translation enabled by Apple Intelligence, AirPods Pro 3 take personal audio to the next level.”
The earphones feature a redesigned fit based on more than 10,000 ear scans and over 100,000 hours of user research. Apple now offers five ear tip sizes, including a new XXS option, and has added IP57 sweat and water resistance for workout durability.Battery life has been extended to up to eight hours of music playback with active noise cancellation enabled – a 33% increase over the previous generation. In Transparency mode, battery life reaches up to 10 hours, representing a 67% improvement.
The AirPods Pro 3 expand Apple’s hearing health features, including Hearing Protection now available to EU and UK users, a scientifically validated Hearing Test and automatic Conversation Boost for hearing aid users in loud environments.
The earphones are manufactured with 40% recycled content and 40% renewable electricity across the supply chain.
WASHINGTON — Humans may be right-handed or left-handed. It turns out octopuses don’t have a dominant arm, but they do tend to perform some tasks more often with their front arms, new research shows.
Scientists studied a series of short videos of wild octopuses crawling, swimming, standing, fetching and groping — among other common activities — to analyze how each of the eight arms were moving.
“All of the arms can do all of this stuff — that’s really amazing,” said co-author and marine biologist Roger Hanlon of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.
Octopus limbs aren’t specialized, as many mammal limbs are. However, the three octopus species in the study showed a clear preference for using their four front arms, which they did about 60% of the time. The back arms were used more frequently for stilting and rolling that help move the octopus forward.
“The forward arms do most of the exploring, the rear arms are mostly for walking,” said Mike Vecchione, a Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History zoologist who was not involved in the study.
Researchers analyzed video clips taken between 2007 and 2015 in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. It was the first large study to examine precise limb actions in the wild.
Unlike previous research of octopus behavior in a laboratory setting, the new work showed that octopuses did not show a preference for right or left arms in their natural environment.
The results were published Thursday in Scientific Reports.
“I’m in awe that the researchers managed to do this,” said Janet Voight, an octopus biologist at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, who had no role in the study.
Octopuses are shy and elusive creatures. The species studied spend most of their time hidden in dens — meaning that filming them required patience and perseverance over many years.
Octopus limbs are complex — used for mobility and sensing the environment. Each arm contains between 100 and 200 suckers — complex sensory organs “equivalent to the human nose, lips, and tongue,” Hanlon said.
If an arm is bitten off by a predator, as often happens in the wild, octopuses have multiple backups.
“When you’ve got eight arms and they’re all capable,” Hanlon said, “there’s a lot of redundancy.”
Larson writes for the Associated Press. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Whether you spent the last year in tears watching “The Pitt,” doubled over with laughter watching “The Studio” or binge-watching your go-to comfort show, this year’s Emmy Awards has something for you.
The 77th Emmy Awards, celebrating the best of the 2024-25 television season, are upon us. Hit series from this year’s slate, including “Severance,” “Hacks” and the aforementioned shows, could soon grab golden statuettes, and their casts and creatives will assemble in Los Angeles for the starry night this weekend.
Those series have already notched a few early wins at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, held last week. Shawn Hatosy of “The Pitt” and Merritt Wever of “Severance” were respectively awarded the guest actor and actress in a drama series prize, while Bryan Cranston and Julianne Nicholson won those awards for their respective comedy series, “The Studio” and “Hacks.”
Here’s everything you need to know about the 2025 Emmy Awards.
When are the Emmys?
The 2025 Emmys will be held on Sunday at 5 p.m. PT at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live.
The Creative Arts Emmy Awards, which were held earlier this month and honor the artistic and technical achievements as well as some performance categories, will air on FXX on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The Creative Arts Emmys will be available to stream on Hulu through Oct. 7.
How can I watch the show?
The live telecast will be broadcast on CBS and will also be available to stream live and on-demand on Paramount+, with a caveat: only subscribers with Paramount+ with Showtime will have access to stream live via the live feed of their local CBS affiliate on the service.
Those with the lower-tier subscription, Paramount+ Essential, will have from Monday through Sept. 21 to stream the telecast.
Who is hosting?
Stand-up comedian Nate Bargatze will helm this year’s award show, a hosting debut for the comic known for his deadpan delivery and clean humor.
Bargatze called the job a “huge honor” when he was announced as the host in April, saying in a statement that he was “beyond excited to work with CBS to create a night that can be enjoyed by families around the world.”
When does the red carpet start, and how can I watch that?
The preshow festivities will kick off at 2 p.m. PT, and there will be several opportunities to watch your favorite stars as they arrive on the red carpet and see the evening’s fashion scene.
E! is airing a programming block from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., beginning with “Live From E! Countdown to the Emmys,” which will be hosted by Bresha Webb, Christian Siriano, Zanna Roberts Rassi and Melissa Peterman. E! will keep the party going with “Live From E!: Emmys,” hosted by Heather McMahan and Zuri Hall leading up to showtime.
People magazine will be livestreaming nominee arrival interviews and commentary around this year’s awards, and it will be hosted by editors from both People and Entertainment Weekly and “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” star Bronwyn Newport. The livestream will be available on People and EW’s websites and social platforms, including YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, as well as the Roku Channel.
Entertainment Tonight is also hosting a preshow — “ET: Live on the Emmys Red Carpet” — that will air on CBS and Paramount+ beginning at 4 p.m. PT. For L.A. locals, KTLA’s live red-carpet coverage will begin at 3 p.m. PT.
What shows and actors are nominated?
“Severance” is the most nominated series of the year, with 27 nods; it’s up against “Andor,” “The Diplomat,” “The Last of Us,” “Paradise,” “The Pitt,” “Slow Horses” and “The White Lotus” for drama series.
Kathy Bates (“Matlock”), Sharon Horgan (“Bad Sisters”), Britt Lower (“Severance”), Bella Ramsey (“The Last of Us”) and Keri Russell (“The Diplomat”) are nominated for lead actress in a drama. Their counterparts for lead actor are Sterling K. Brown (“Paradise”), Gary Oldman (“Slow Horses”), Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”), Adam Scott (“Severance”) and Noah Wyle (“The Pitt”).
For comedies, last year’s winner “Hacks” faces off with “Abbott Elementary,” “The Bear,” “Nobody Wants This,” “Only Murders in the Building,” “Shrinking,” “The Studio” and “What We Do in the Shadows.”
Some familiar faces in the lead actress in a comedy series are nominated again this year, including Quinta Brunson (“Abbott Elementary”), Ayo Edebiri (“The Bear”) and last year’s winner, Jean Smart (“Hacks”). Uzo Aduba is also nominated for “The Residence” and Kristen Bell received her first Emmy nomination for “Nobody Wants This.” For lead actor, incumbent Jeremy Allen White is nominated alongside Adam Brody (“Nobody Wants This”), a first-time nominee; Seth Rogen (“The Studio”); Jason Segel (“Shrinking”) and Martin Short (“Only Murders in the Building”).
Check out the full list of nominees here.
Who’s going to win?
If you’re sick of the days when a handful of shows seemed to sweep their categories, this might be the year for you. Awards prognosticators, including The Times’ own Glenn Whipp, believe some of the drama categories could be a tight race between “Severance” and “The Pitt,” with the former having the edge. Even if the medical drama doesn’t win the top drama prize, “The Pitt’s” Noah Wyle is widely expected to win lead actor over “Severance” star Adam Scott.
Newcomer “The Studio” is predicted to be a favorite in the comedy categories, with some experts saying it could beat out defending champ “Hacks” for comedy series and its star and creator Seth Rogen is expected to take home the lead actor prize.
It’s also looking like it might be a big night for boomers, with Kathy Bates as the favorite for actress in a drama for “Matlock” and Jean Smart is expected to once again win actress in a comedy series for “Hacks.” Harrison Ford is also the front-runner for supporting actor in a comedy for his role in “Shrinking,” which would mark the 83-year-old’s first ever Emmy win on his first nomination.
“Adolescence” and “The Penguin” are far ahead of the rest in the limited series race and the series are expected to each pick up a handful of trophies in the category.
Check out the L.A. Times BuzzMeter with more 2025 Emmys predictions here.
Who’s presenting?
Several nominees will be taking the stage to present awards. Those include Ike Barinholtz, Kathy Bates, Kristen Bell, Sterling K. Brown, Stephen Colbert, Alan Cumming, Colman Domingo, Tina Fey, Walton Goggins, Kathryn Hahn, James Marsden, Julianne Nicholson, Parker Posey, Michael Schur and Jeff Probst.
It’s also looking like there might be a handful of cast reunions based on the presenters the Television Academy announced: “Gilmore Girls” stars Alexis Bledel and Lauren Graham, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” stars Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni, “Grey’s Anatomy” stars Eric Dane and Jesse Williams, “American Horror Story” stars Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters and “Shōgun” leads (and 2024 Emmy winners) Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai are each set to present.
“Wednesday” stars Jenna Ortega and Catherine Zeta-Jones are also on the slate.
Elizabeth Banks, Angela Bassett, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Coolidge, Tony Goldwyn, Justin Hartley, Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law, Leanne Morgan, Phylicia Rashad, Sydney Sweeney and Sofía Vergara will also present.
Get ready for flashy sword fights and some heartache — “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle” is finally hitting the U.S.
The latest film in the popular “Demon Slayer” franchise, in theaters Friday, is the first installment of a planned trilogy that will span the final showdown between the Demon Slayer Corps and the monstrous creatures the secret organization was created to defeat.
“Infinity Castle” picks up directly after the events of “Demon Slayer’s” fourth season, also known as the “Hashira Training Arc.” Tanjiro Kamado and his fellow Demon Slayer Corps members have infiltrated the demon base, called the Infinity Castle, in order to take down leader Muzan Kibutsuji and rid the world of demons.
If all of that seems like too much to take in, never fear. Here is a (mostly) spoiler-free guide for the “Demon Slayer” curious. (For those who would rather just dive in, the series is available on streamers including Netflix, Hulu and Crunchyroll.)
What is “Demon Slayer”?
Sanemi Shinazugawa fighting demons in “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle.”
(Aniplex / Ufotable)
“Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba” is an anime based on the manga by Koyoharu Gotouge. Set in Taishō-era Japan, the series follows Tanjiro Kamado, a kindhearted teenager and the oldest son of a family that makes and sells charcoal. One day, Tanjiro returns from an overnight trip to discover that his family has been slaughtered. The only survivor is his younger sister, Nezuko, who has been turned into an oni, a carnivorous demon who usually subsists on a diet of humans and is averse to sunlight.
This leads to an encounter with a member of the Demon Slayer Corps, an organization of warriors committed to hunting down the powerful creatures. Tanjiro is then sent to train to become a demon slayer, so he can begin his quest to find a way to turn his sister back into a human.
The “Demon Slayer” manga was serialized in the weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 2016 to 2020. The full series has been collected into 23 volumes. The “Demon Slayer” anime series, produced by Ufotable, launched in 2019 and so far comprises 63 episodes spanning four seasons. “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle” is a direct continuation of the TV series and picks up the story where the fourth season left off.
Who are the demon slayers?
Shinobu Kocho in “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle.”
(Aniplex / Ufotable)
“Demon Slayer” follows Tanjiro Kamado, a teen member of the Demon Slayer Corps who is searching for a way to transform his younger sister back into a human. He has a strong sense of smell and an even stronger sense of empathy.
Tanjiro’s younger sister, Nezuko, has been turned into a demon, but instead of eating humans, she sustains her energy through sleep. She uses her demon-enhanced abilities to help Tanjiro protect humans and fight against other demons. She often travels inside Tanjiro’s wooden backpack.
Along the way, the siblings befriend Demon Slayer Corps members Zenitsu Agatsuma and Inosuke Hashibira. Zenitsu is so cowardly and anxious that he is only effective as a sword fighter when he is unconscious. Inosuke — who was raised by wild animals — is impulsive and overconfident, always eager to jump into fights to prove he is the strongest fighter of them all.
Tanjiro also crosses paths with high-ranking Demon Slayer Corps members known as the Hashira, such as Giyu Tomioka (the quiet warrior who recruited Tanjiro), Shinobu Kocho (a medical expert), Tengen Uzui (a flashy polygamous ninja), Muichiro Tokito (an aloof prodigy) and Mitsuri Kanroji (a physically powerful dreamer).
Most members of the Demon Slayer Corps have been trained in special sword-fighting forms known as “breathing styles” that help increase their strength, stamina, speed and more.
The Demon Slayer Corps is led by the members of the Ubuyashiki family, who founded the organization.
What about the demons?
The demon Akaza in “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle.”
(Aniplex / Ufotable)
The demons in “Demon Slayer,” also known as oni, are nearly immortal creatures with various enhanced abilities such as increased strength and advanced healing. Sunlight and wisteria are among their very few weaknesses. They can also be decapitated with a special sword wielded by demon slayers. Demons eat humans and become stronger with each one they consume. Most demons have forgotten their human memories.
Muzan Kibutsuji is the ruthless leader of all demons. He is the first human that ever became a demon, and all others were turned after being given his blood. Muzan’s most powerful demon servants are the Twelve Kizuki. Tanjiro and friends have already defeated some members of the Twelve Kizuki including Rui, Enmu, Gyutaro, Daki, Gyokko and Hantengu.
Muzan’s goal is to become truly immortal by overcoming all of the known weaknesses of demons.
What is “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle”?
A scene from “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle.”
(Aniplex / Ufotable)
“Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle” is the latest movie in the “Demon Slayer” franchise. It is the first installment of a planned trilogy that will span the final arc of the series. It’s the franchise’s second original theatrical film following “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — The Movie: Mugen Train,” one of the biggest movies of 2020.
“Infinity Castle” picks up directly after the events of the series’ fourth season, which saw Tanjiro and his fellow Demon Slayer Corps members put through the ringer at special boot camps held by the Hashiras to help prepare them all for a final showdown against Muzan and his demon army.
The film premiered in Japan on July 18 and has broken a number of box office records. The movie has already made more than $273 million at the worldwide box office, including $213 million in Japan alone.
Can I watch “Infinity Castle” without having seen any other “Demon Slayer” before?
Giyu Tomioka in “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle.”
(Aniplex / Ufotable)
You can, but it would be like starting a long-running TV show during its last season. Your level of enjoyment might come down to your affinity for gorgeously animated combat sequences.
Why is “Demon Slayer” so popular?
“Demon Slayer’s” popularity correlates to anime’s growing footprint in mainstream pop culture. While the “Demon Slayer” manga was generally positively received, the TV adaptation helped further propel its reach. And thanks to streaming services like Crunchyroll, Netflix and Hulu, anime is more accessible to audiences than ever.
The series has been hailed for its stunning visuals, including its dynamic action sequences. But “Demon Slayer’s” popularity is also a credit to the series characters and story. Tanjiro, for instance, is an empathetic hero. He’s someone who, despite his own tremendous loss, is determined to keep doing what’s right and see the best in people — including demons who often were social outcasts before they were turned. His perseverance is particularly resonant at a time where there has been so much uncertainty in the real world.
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