Guess Hideaki Sorachi’s plan to bait “Kimetsu no Yaiba” fans into watching “Gintama THE FINAL” worked?! “Gintama THE FINAL” has derailed the hype train “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie – Mugen Train”, taking the top spot at Japanese cinemas during its opening week.

Shounen JUMP’s top primate has issued a statement about the feat; here’s an unofficial translation:

Thanks to everyone’s support, I was able to stop that endless train with “Gintama THE FINAL” and take the lead. Thank you very much! I hope that the worst piggybacking scam in history will also give you a cool way of saying that “You made a demon-slaying blade, from a demon’s horn, to defeat a demon!”.

I could only do this Gintama-style gag thanks to a number of other wonderful works such as “Demon Slayer” — who laughed and forgave me and sometimes played along with me. Thank you — and again, so sorry about this!

The author also hopes that the film can stay at the top for at least a week before it would (inevitably?) be overtaken again by “Kimetsu no Yaiba”.