Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on March 2010

Courtesy of Life Is So Cruel, Ltd.

In July 2009, a Japanese toymaker released an action figure of Billy Herrington, a bisexual porn star popular in the US in the ’90s. This wasn’t because of his chiseled abs. Rather, it was because otaku were posting remixed videos of him on popular video-sharing site Nico Nico Douga (NND).

“I thought it was so creative,” says Herrington, 40, who wound up touring Japan and meeting with fans last year. “I could really appreciate the effort it took for the fans to put it together, the time it took.”

Launched in 2006, NND now has over 10 million registered users and boasts 40 million page views a day. It has 400 categories of content, mostly anime, TV programs and music and personal videos. Each category includes both original (source) and derivative (fanproduced) content.

The secret to NND ’s success is interaction among users, who post comments that appear on top of the streaming video. Comments unfold as they are written and at the tempo they are thought. It’s all quite simple and intensely exciting—the equivalent of having a room full of anonymous critics all shouting comments out as the film is still rolling. The result is often confusing, but always amusing.

Herrington, or “big brother” (aniki) to fans, is famous for soramimi (literally “empty ear”), in which lyrics or dialogue are (mis)translated based on their sound. NND users write alternative lyrics to unintelligible songs (both domestic and foreign) and share them in a sort of imaginative free-association. Some become cult classics, like the German version of Dschinghis Khan’s hit song “Moskau.” Lines from Herrington’s porn videos became a great source of soramimi, and over 4,000 videos were posted under titles such as “Wrestling Series,” “Forest Fairy” and “Philosophy.”

Some of these videos are extremely well made and get millions of hits. Indeed, there is a category on NND devoted to “wasted talent,” or works that are just too well-made to appear in this environment. They feature professional quality editing, dance routines, covers of anime songs and almost any other talent imaginable. For example, “Jason” uses a chainsaw to carve chunks of wood into statues of popular anime characters, while “Nojiri,” a science fiction author, has devised a way to make underwear fly. Some of the creativity on NND is making its way into the mainstream, thanks to outlets such as “The Net Star,” TV program on NHK hosted by popular idol Chiaki Kyan.

And then there are the international success stories like Herrington and Beckii Cruel (pictured), a 14-year-old high school student from England who in 2007 became famous on NND for cosplaying as anime characters and dancing to popular anime songs. “My videos are accessible through the internet, and anyone can watch them,” Beckii tells Metropolis. “That even one person would watch them is a great compliment!”

More than one person is watching. The response to her live performance in Akihabara last October is proof of that, and Beckii’s videos have been viewed some 6 million times on YouTube and other sites. She’s now signed to a label in the UK and heading up an idol group called Cruel Angels, which is comprised of young girls from around the world who love Japanese pop culture. Beckii released her first solo DVD in December, and Cruel Angels their first single and DVD in February.

A Billy Herrington action figure and cosplay Spice Girls for otaku, courtesy of Nico Nico Douga? The path to celebrity and its aftermath in the digital age is enough to make anyone smile.