Comments that race straight across the picture in real time are a giveaway that you are watching something Japanese, and that scrolling layer of text has a name: danmaku, invented right here back in 2006. Watching Niconico outside Japan hits a wall, though. Since late 2024 the site has fenced off chunks of playback for anyone outside Japan, and in February 2026 it pulled the Nicopedia encyclopedia behind the same border. From your home IP you land on a thinned-out catalog or an outright error.
The fix is refreshingly simple. Grab ExpressVPN, connect to a server in Japan, and your connection borrows a local address. From there you sign in as if you were in Tokyo: the free tier and paid Premium both run in full, peak-hour queues vanish, and video climbs to 1080p. It works on the web, in the app, and on the Switch console.
Tested weekly by our team. Green: works, amber: partial, red: blocked.
| VPN Service | Price | Niconico | Tested | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 ExpressVPNBEST | From $2.79/mo | ✓ Works | August 24 | Try it |
 NordVPN | From $2.99/mo | ✓ Works | August 22 | Open |
 Surfshark | From $1.78/mo | ✓ Works | August 24 | Open |
 IPVanish | From $2.19/mo | ✓ Works | August 21 | Open |
 ProtonVPN | From $3.59/mo | ~ Partial | August 22 | Open |
 Private Internet Access | From $1.79/mo | ~ Partial | August 22 | Open |
 CyberGhost | From $1.75/mo | ~ Partial | August 18 | Open |
✓ Works✓ Works✓ Works✓ Works~ Partial~ Partial~ PartialTakes about 2 minutes. Works on your phone, tablet, TV, PC, or laptop.
Niconico streams in full in Japan, and part of its catalogue plays in 6 more countries. For the titles that stay locked, use a premium VPN.
Niconico also works in the United States, in the United Kingdom, in Australia, in Canada and in Germany, plus in 1 more country, but with limited content compared to fully available countries. ExpressVPN unlocks full access.
Niconico is blocked in New Zealand, in Ireland, in India, in the Netherlands and in South Africa, plus in 182 more countries. To access it, use a premium VPN like ExpressVPN.
Niconico (niconico douga) is the Japanese video platform launched in 2006 and owned since 2014 by the Kadokawa group. It is the oldest and most influential Japanese service of its kind and the one that introduced live, on-screen scrolling comments known as danmaku, a convention since copied across Asia. The mix spans user-generated video, anime streams, live concerts, otaku and Vocaloid culture and community creativity. The free tier is partly reachable from abroad, though since October 2024 the service blocks many videos and live streams from outside Japan. The paid Premium plan at 790 yen removes resolution caps and peak-hour queuing.
5 tips from our Niconico testing team · Updated July 17, 2026
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