MangaConverter

Translate manga speech bubbles inline

The planned translator works on the manga files you already have: OCR reads the text in each speech bubble, machine translation renders it in your language, and the translated text is set back into the bubble so you read the page, not a lookup table. We are being straight with you: it is not live yet, so this page does not offer it, and machine translation of manga is genuinely hard, which is exactly why we will not ship a half-working version.

The hard parts are well known: vertical Japanese text, handwritten sound effects, text over art, and phrasing that needs context a bubble does not carry. The plan is to do the tractable part well (clean bubble text, readable inline translation) and be honest about the rest, rather than promising fluent localisation no machine delivers.

The manga translator is coming soon

This tool is planned, not live yet. Convert the manga you read today with the live tools.

See the tools that are live today Vote for this feature on the roadmap

What the translator will do

  1. OCR the bubbles

    Text detection tuned for manga: vertical layouts, bubble shapes and reading order, so the raw text comes out in the order you would read it.

  2. Translate in context

    Bubble-by-bubble machine translation with the page as context, into your chosen language. Honest expectation: readable, not literary.

  3. Set it back into the page

    The translated text is placed back into the cleaned bubble, so the result is a readable page that flows on to conversion for your e-reader.

  4. Until then: convert what you can read

    The converter is live for the manga you already read: device profiles, right-to-left mode and live preview work today.

Honesty first

Manga translation demos look magical and fail on real pages: sound effects, handwriting, text over screentone. The tool arrives here when it survives real files, and its limits will be written on the page.

The live tools help now

For manga you can already read, conversion is live today: right-to-left mode, device sizing and the page preview all work, whatever language the bubbles are in.

Frequently asked questions

Can I translate manga here right now?

No, and we will not pretend otherwise. The translator is planned. This page describes it honestly and will host it when the OCR and typesetting actually work on real pages.

Whose files does it translate?

Yours. Like every tool here it works on files you upload, for your own reading, and uploads auto-delete after 24 hours. It is not a catalog and does not host translated manga.

Will the translation be as good as an official release?

No, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. Machine translation of manga produces readable meaning, not professional localisation. Official releases fund the artists and read better; this tool is for what has neither.

Which languages will it support?

The OCR side starts with Japanese, Korean and Chinese sources, since that is what manga, manhwa and manhua are drawn in. Output languages follow the translation models, which cover all the major reading languages.

Will you announce when it is ready?

Yes. When the translator ships it goes live on this page and the tools hub links to it. You can vote for it on the roadmap in the meantime.

MangaConverter runs on Kindle Comic Converter (KCC), the open-source engine, for the conversions that are live today. The translator is a planned processing step in front of that pipeline, and this page will host it honestly once it works.