What is MangaTranslate

MangaTranslate (titled Manga Translator on its site) is an online AI tool for translating manga and comics. It solves a narrow but real problem: comic text is baked into the artwork, so ordinary translators struggle to read it and cannot put the translation back into the speech bubbles. MangaTranslate chains the steps together. It recognises text in bubbles and panels with OCR, translates it, erases the original, typesets the translation back into the layout and outputs a page you can read straight away.

It all runs in the browser with nothing to install, and you can try it without signing in. Pages can be uploaded in batches and processed in a background queue, then previewed and downloaded one by one. If a line is wrong, an online editor lets you fix it by hand.

The service is run by Ficory LLC. Its interface is available in many languages, including English, Japanese, Korean and Simplified and Traditional Chinese, and it targets individual readers, professional translators and scanlation teams, as well as businesses that integrate through its API.

Traditional scanlation runs through several stages: sourcing raws, translating, proofreading, cleaning and typesetting. Cleaning and typesetting take the longest, because the original text has to be wiped neatly out of each bubble and the translation fitted back in with the right font, size and line breaks. MangaTranslate folds these mechanical steps into a single upload and leaves people to check and polish at the end. The site sums up the flow in three steps (choose languages, upload, get results) with no installation needed.

Key features

OCR. Tuned for the hard cases in comics, such as busy backgrounds, warped lettering and outlined text, and followed by clean erasing and refilling.

Many languages. Source languages include Japanese, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Korean, English and a range of European and Asian languages. The target list is longer and covers many less common languages. The two lists differ, so check the options in the tool.

Three models. Manga is the first-generation model built for comics; it uses one recognition model for Chinese, Japanese and Korean and another for other languages, which is why picking the right source language matters. Ultra focuses on fine detail and may be slightly slower at peak times. EagleEye is an early-access model based on the team’s latest research. Each model uses a different number of credits per page.

Smart typesetting and font styles. Font size, position and line breaks are adjusted automatically to keep the page’s rhythm. Leave the font on Auto or pick a style by genre: comic lettering for everyday dialogue and sound effects, calligraphic styles for period and martial-arts stories, a clean sans-serif for modern stories and small bubbles, heavy brush for battle scenes, and more.

Online editor. After a page is translated, choose “Edit translated images” to change dialogue, move text boxes, adjust fonts and layout, and import your own font files. Edits are exported separately and do not overwrite the original task’s output.

Batch and background processing. Upload many pages at once, let them queue in the background and download them together. Email notifications are available for large uploads.

API. Businesses and developers can submit jobs, check progress and fetch results through the API.

How to use it

  1. Go to mangatranslate.com and use the translation panel on the home page.
  2. Choose the source and target languages. Get the source right, because it decides which recognition model is used.
  3. Choose a model and a font style. If unsure, use the default Manga model and Auto font.
  4. Upload pages: jpg, jpeg, png, webp or avif images, or pdf, zip, tar and tar.gz archives, up to 15MB per page.
  5. Translation starts automatically by default. If you turned that off, start it manually.
  6. Preview and download each page. To fix something, open the editor, make the change and export.

Use cases

  • Manga readers: reading foreign comics and webtoons that have no official translation yet.
  • Translators and localisers: let AI produce a first pass, then refine dialogue and lettering in the editor, saving most of the typesetting time.
  • Publishers and platforms: batch-process language versions through the API as a step before human translation.
  • Language learners: compare the original and translated pages side by side.
  • Other illustrated content: four-panel strips, illustrations with text and text-heavy posters.

FAQ

Is it free? Partly. Without signing in you get 5 free credits a day, shared per public IP address. Registered users can claim 5 free credits a day by checking in. Models use different amounts of credits, so how many pages you can translate depends on your choice. More credits are available through pay-as-you-go or subscription; see the pricing page for current prices.

Can I fix a bad translation? Yes. Open “Edit translated images” on the task, change the text, move boxes or swap fonts, then export from the editor.

Can I use my own fonts? In the online editor, yes. When submitting a job through the website or API, you are limited to the fonts offered there.

Anything to watch out for when translating someone else’s comic? The tool only provides translation. Sharing or commercial use of copyrighted work beyond personal reading needs permission from the rights holder. The site also publishes a DMCA notice and an acceptable use policy.

Official website