Titus (Shuangquan) Tan
Professor Kevin McNeilly
ENGL 232 001
23 November 2017
An Introduction to Danmaku, a New Genre of Commentary Media
Originated from a Japanese anime video website, NicoNico Douga in 2006, a new system of video commenting that overlays “flying” “written texts” (Liu et al. 284) on video displays and synchronises them to the video timeline, or Danmaku, is gaining large-scale popularity in East Asia. With Danmaku, viewers simply pause and post comments during whatever moment of the video, the comments will usually, but not limited to, “move[s] from right to left” (Liu et al. 284) in accordance to Japanese literal accustoms (even after its appropriation in China). According to Alexa Traffic Ranks, Bilibili, the biggest Chinese Danmaku video sites (started as an anime video site like NicoNico Douga), whose users are mostly under twenty-five (67%) and on which around a hundred million users are constantly active, ranked the 305th place among the world’s most successful sites in 2015 and the fourth most popular online video service in China despite its late launch and lack of financial support (Liu et al. 284). In recent years, its competitors, the traditional video sites such as iQiyi, Tudou (Liu et al. 284) and Youku (Chen et al. 731), almost without exception adopted Danmaku. In academia, the initial scholarly studies about Danmaku are foregrounded in their myopic understanding that Danmaku is instrumental and subsumed exclusively to the media genre of video. However, I argue that Danmaku should be understood as a stand-alone genre of commentary media separable from videos with its own textual decorum and modal designs.
Danmaku’s textual decorum is different from traditional comment section: its language is closely bounded to ACG (Anime, Comics and Games) because Danmaku, from its birth, is an offshoot of ACG subculture (NicoNico Douga). Therefore, many “clubby” ACG jargons are frequented in Danmaku, one of which is “Early Warning For High Energy Ahead”, derived from Gundam series (originally to warn Super Robot riders of approaching enemies), that heed other viewers of impending graphic scenes in the video. Although, many of these jargons have been adopted into general Danmaku use, they may remain prohibiting for new users.
Unlike traditional comments that centre on “general” or “post hoc” impressions (Chen et al. 732), Danmaku centres on entertainment (Chen et al. 738). Put simply, most people post Danmaku comments or watch videos with Danmaku to have fun. In extreme cases, “people watch a poor-quality video just for…ridiculing the content…with other[… viewers] through Danmaku…” (Chen et al. 733). On this basis, the three reasons for Danmaku opponents, namely “excess of information”, “information pollution” and “bad looking” (Chen et al. 736) may result from the lack of understanding that Danmaku is meant to be neither informative nor aesthetic but entertaining. Besides, statistics have shown that its frequent users do not consider “…low-quality information is…a major concern [for them]” (Chen et al. 740).
However, this is not to deny that some Danmau comments (although quantatively way less than entertaining ones) are informative that answer other viewers’ questions (concerning i.e. history backgrounds of the on-going scene or name of the on-going background music) and help viewers to “…find hidden messages and understand obscure plots” (Chen et al. 739). Nevertheless, such information sharing is seldom motivated by warm-heartedness but by self-complacency, so much so that a vainglorious hierarchy is demonstrated between informants as the “insiders” (particularly of the ACG circle) and information beneficiaries as the “outsiders”, not least by intentionally posting “spoiler information” (Chen et al. 736). As Scholars Yue Chen et al. notice, “by supplying information…the users may believe that they have an impact on others.” (734)
Danmaku’s modal designs are different from traditional comment section: Danmuku is synchronised to the video’s timeline, which makes it appear “live” and “simultaneous” (Liu et al. 289). Notwithstanding, this “co-viewing” (Chen et al. 731) is actually a simulation because different people may have been watched the video in drastically different time, or they may drag the video bar to add Danmaku comments whenever they feel like to (Liu et al. 289). Albeit this “pseudo-synchronicity”, Danmaku “provides…[a] common ground for discussing issues specific to the current…content” (Chen et al. 732), which is sometimes otherwise nonsensical with traditional commenting system. For example, the aforementioned jargon would not make sense in comment section since the idea of “Ahead” is non-existent if not placed in a certain moment of the video.
Since new Danmaku comments may be added to a video as more people watch it over time, some is reported to have watched the same videos for multiple times just for the new Danmaku comments (Chen et al. 735). Rarely would anyone “re-watch” a video simply motivated by the comment section. In this sense, Danmaku creates a unique motive for viewers to “re-watch” videos.
Each Danmaku comment flies through the video display in about three seconds (if not otherwise adjusted by the poster/viewer). Such short appearance encourages viewers to share their instantaneous feedbacks (Chen et al. 732) in that as the videos plays, their Danmaku comments will soon be taken out of the evoking context. This drive-force by instantaneity is particularly eminent during climactic moments of the video (Chen et al. 735) wherein, owning to viewers’ shared catharsis, a plethora of Danmaku comments jam the video display.
Danmaku is also equipped with a unique keyword filtering mechanism: Danmaku comments that contain undesired keywords set by the user are singled out in Danmaku. Although Chen et al. see the need to develop a “…smarter filtering mechanism…that [presents] the most interesting comments to viewers” (741). So far, alternative mechanism has not been adopted, possibly because the grassroots Danmaku forerunners like Bilibili are not financially and human-resource-wise capable of more complex and costly optimisation that potentially entails Artificial Intelligence. However, the current keyword filtering mechanism is actually effective: for example, if a user does not want to see fans’ quarrels over a film star, s/he could block the name of the star, and will still be able to enjoy other Danmaku comments. Plus, since Danmaku is a collective system, viewers often post Danmaku comments to suggest others to block certain keywords or temporarily turn off Danmaku.
Unlike the epidemic scholarly presumption that Danmaku is a part of the media genre of video, Danmaku, by virtue of its nonpareil textual decorum and modal designs, deserves a stand-alone genre of commentary media. To specify, such textual decorum includes its language connection to ACG, its focus on entertainment and its occasional provisions of valuable information; such modal designs include its “pseudo-synchronicity” (Chen et al. 732), its fleeting appearance that prompts transitory feedbacks and its keyword filtering mechanism. Admittedly, Chen et al. acknowledge that “…videos [with Danmaku] become…a re[-]creation of the original video[s]…contributed by both the video developers and the viewers” (741), the scholars do not realise that Danmaku, as a stand-alone genre of commentary media, have already been extended from videos to other media, such as online manga and live streaming videos. Nevertheless, such extension is occurring mainly within ACG subculture and East Asian territories, it, to this point, becomes somewhat foreseeable for Danmaku to be put in more general use in the near future. In this respect, the sooner scholars identify Danmaku as a new genre of commentary media, the better they will develop a closer understanding towards Danmaku.
Works Cited
Alexa – Website Traffic, Statistics and Analytics. Statistics and Rankings Retrieved in 2014. Newer Statistics and Rankings Accessible At
https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/bilibili.com
Chen, Yue, et al.. “Watching a Movie Alone Yet Together: Understanding Reasons for Watching Danmaku Videos”. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, Volume 33, Issue 9, 2017, pp. 731-743.
Liu, Lili, et al.. “Watching Online Videos Interactively: the Impact of Media Capabilities In Chinese Danmaku Video Sites”. Chinese Journal of Communication, Volume 9, Issue 3, 2016, pp. 283-303.