English Guide For Nico Nico Douga, Part 2: How To Use

Posted on December 31st, 2010 by Serkan Toto

We explained how to register for Japanese video sharing site Nico Nico Douga in English here (click here for a list of all Nico Nico articles we've written so far).

This quick guide should explains Nico Nico's main features and how to actually get around the site (ignore our older guide). Nico Nico has changed a lot over the past months, having added live streaming, apps, a manga section etc. - too much to cover the now massive site in a blog post.

Nico Nico is still being used mostly for clips, which is why we focus on the "videos" section in the following. (Note: Unlike YouTube, you can't view videos on Nico Nico without being logged in.)

Please click on the screengrabs to enlarge them.

Screen 1 (Nico Nico top page, viewed as a logged-in user):

Screen 2 (videos section - what you see after clicking the "videos" category on the top left on the top page):


Screen 3 (video display):

Author Information  Dr. Serkan Toto is a German based in Tokyo. Like us, he is passionate about introducing Japanese IT to the rest of the world. Full-time, Serkan works as an independent web industry consultant for hedge funds, venture capital companies and start-ups worldwide. He is also a writer for mega tech blog network TechCrunch, covering Japan-related technology and web trends. This is Serkan's website. Follow Serkan on Twitter here.

Tags: Japan // 8 Comments »

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  • Eezy_breezy6

    how do you see other videos made by the same user?

    • http://www.serkantoto.com/ Serkan Toto

      After the video is played, Nico Nico serves up a few options what to do next in the form of icons. If you click the icon that’s highlighted automatically (the two arrows forming a square), for example, the video will be repeated.

      For seeing other videos made by the same user, click the “film reel icon” that’s right next to the one I just described.

  • tart

     Thanks so much for the super helpful guides! :D

    Btw, do you know how to pm someone on there?

    • http://twitter.com/akky Akky Akimoto

      Does pm mean private message? If so, there is no such function.

      You may ask a friend request then the author may realize that you are interested in her/him. Though still there are no messaging feature even between friends.

      If the author does not link to her/his blog/twitter/etc., it is likely that she/he does not want to be contacted.

      • tart

        Yes, that is what I meant. :P But aww that ‘s too bad.
        So the only way to communicate with somebody is to comment on their video?

        Thanks a lot for your help! :)

  • Terranada

    This was so incredibly helpful! Thank you so much!!!

  • NekoFLASH!

    I’m so glad I stumbled on this! I made a Nico Nico account a few weeks back,but haven’t been able to do much yet since I don’t know any Japanese whatsoever… Thanks a ton for posting this!!

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