Hi, I was wondering if you had any insights or advice on the current YOI 4DX situation? I'm a little confused how the advance tickets work because someone told me you can still be beat out by people with internet reservations?

Hi! Sorry for the late reply… I hoped they would announce the details of the special newly illustrated tickets but they haven’t yet, sigh.

To explain about the YOI 4DX tickets I guess first of all I need to explain how movie ticket bookings work in Japan.

For some special events held in movie theaters they sell tickets via normal ticket websites (like eplus) and in that case they are sold with the date and seat number already printed on them. However, this is not the case for the YOI 4DX screening, which is treated like a normal movie showing.

See under the cut for details.

There are 2 types of advance movie tickets in Japan:

1) The tickets you can buy directly at the cinema counter or from the cinema’s website. In this case the sale starts X days (depends on the cinema) before each screening and you can choose the seat. If you buy them online you will have to receive them from one of the ticket issuing machines at the cinema. They all look the same, they don’t have special pictures on them.

2) General advance tickets which are sold months before the movie is actually screened. You can usually buy them at the cinema shop (not the ticket counter, usually it’s a shop that sells pamphlets and merchandise too) or in some cases even in places such as Animate or convenience stores. They don’t have a day or seat number on them and most of the times they can be used in any cinema that shows the movie (unless there are limitations). They usually have a picture on them, which may be different depending on where you buy them, and sometimes they come in special versions with goods or other bonuses.

The advance tickets they are currently selling for the YOI 4DX screening are the second type. Now, what is the problem with this type of tickets? Since they don’t have a date or seat number on them, to actually use them you need to physically go to a cinema and exchange them for normal tickets (you will still be able to keep the picture part, they will only rip off the tag). However, you can only do this once normal ticket sales for the screening you want to go to start. And you can only do it at the cinema’s ticket counter. You cannot do it online.

Practical example of what this means:

Screenings for YOI 4DX start on September 23. Some cinemas start selling tickets 2-3 days before each screening, at midnight (however this varies by cinema so you need to check the place you want to go to). If they start selling tickets at midnight of, let’s say, Thursday Sep. 21st, it means that people purchasing tickets online will be able to buy them right away from the website after midnight. However, you cannot use your advance ticket online, so if you want to exchange it for the 23rd you would need to go to the cinema as early as possible to exchange it at the counter. Most cinemas are not open and/or do not sell tickets after midnight though, so in most cases the earliest you can go is in the morning (but since it’s Thursday, if you work at a normal company you might not be able to go until the evening).

Of course this means that if tickets for the 23rd sell out via online sale before you can go to the cinema counter you will not be able to exchange your advance ticket for that day. And since they have announced a first-come first-served bonus you can bet that people will try to go as early as possible to make sure they get it, especially the first week when we don’t know how many bonuses they have and cannot predict how fast they will finish (of course I hope they prepare enough to last most of the week but who knows…).

Adding to this, not many cinemas are showing YOI 4DX, for example in my case they are all quite far from where I live and having to go to the cinema a few days earlier just to exchange the ticket is already annoying (and would cost me extra train fare).

What you should do depends on your priorities.

If you absolutely want to buy an advance ticket because you like the ticket with the YOI visual or if you want to get the special ticket set (a set of 3 tickets for all 3 volumes), you will have to accept the possibility that some or all shows on at least Saturday and Sunday will sell out before you can exchange your advance ticket for a normal one, and therefore that you might have to go on another day.

If you want to watch the screening as soon as possible, you should give up on the advance tickets and participate in the war to get online tickets as soon as the sale starts (I predict there will be a war depending on the area).

If you want the advance tickets but you also want to watch the screening as soon as possible… you should consider going two times. You can try to get online tickets for the first time, and use the advance ticket to go another time later on. Of course it costs you twice the price…



Now, in some areas with less population maybe Saturday tickets will not sell out right away, but in the Tokyo/Kanto area there are only a few cinemas showing it, which is kind of not enough compared to the population, also because 4DX needs larger seats so the rooms are usually not able to accomodate as many people as normal screenings.

I hope it was clear enough but if you have any questions let me know! The advance tickets they are currently selling have a normal YOI visual but don’t have any bonuses with them and only cost 200 yen less than normal tickets. The special set is the same price x3 so the only “bonus” it has is probably the new illustration. Still waiting for information on when/how to buy it… (The details of the first-come first-served bonus haven’t been announced yet either)