Danmaku subtitling

Danmaku or danmu (figuratively translated as "barrage") is a subtitle system in online video platforms that originates from Japan and popularised in mainland China.

The term danmaku (だんまく) originates from the shoot 'em up arcade game Batsugun created by now-defunct Japanese developer Toaplan.

It is a conventional vertically scrolling shooter game, with a "level up" system for the player's weapons that shoot a lot of bullets across the screen, hence the term danmaku.

Due to its popularity and impact, danmu has become a topic of scholarly research, including linguistic, sociological, and cultural study as well as potential applications in online learning use.

At certain moments of the videos, user comments fill up the screen giving the appearance of a bullet curtain, or danmaku in Japanese and danmu in Chinese.

[6] This movement and synchronization of text creates a co-viewing experience for users who watch the same videos, but at different locations and times.

This includes changing of font, amount, transparency and speed of texts viewable on screen, activating the anti-block function and filtering comments based on specific characteristics like movement, colour and type of danmaku.

[10] This interactivity differentiates danmaku from traditional comment sections, which are typically located below or beside the video and remain as static posts and replies (resembling the structure of an online forum).

This lack of knowledge creates responses that are delayed and sometimes redundant, leaving less room for productive conversations between danmaku users.

These live-streaming sites that host more concurrent viewers tend to produce massive chats that prioritize crowd-based reactions and interactions over interpersonal conversation.

This incites a sense of urgency among the viewers, where the fear of missing a piece of information propels users to search, access and download old danmaku comments that were flushed out due to the limitations of the platform.

that danmaku is enjoyed by the more collectivist cultures of East Asia, whereas individualistic viewers (such as Americans) would prefer their viewing experience to not be interfered.

In especially notable parts of a video, a large volume of (often highly repetitive) danmaku comments might occupy the screen, expressing similar emotions.

For example, moments before a shocking, exciting or funny scene happens in a video, many danmaku comments would appear, alerting the viewer, "Attention!!"