Top 5 Japanese Manga Translators (100% Work)

Love Japanese manga but can’t read Japanese? That’s a common struggle among many manga fans.

While Japanese manga has a global fanbase, many great titles are only available in Japanese. This can be frustrating. Fortunately, with the right tools, you can translate manga yourself.

In this guide, we’ll review the best Japanese manga translators, explain how they work, and compare their features to help you choose the right one for your needs.

Let’s get started.

Part 1. Best Japanese Manga Translators

This section will introduce you to the top 5 tools to translate manga on desktop, mobile, and online. Let’s explore these one by one!

1.    UPDF on Windows and Mac

UPDF is the best Japanese manga translator for Windows and Mac. Whether you’re working with image-based manga or a PDF with embedded pictures, UPDF’s OCR tool easily recognizes and lets you translate the text.

You can translate all the pages at once or select specific ones to translate. Also, it doesn’t change the original text layout to give you a seamless reading experience.

For text that’s difficult to translate, UPDF’s screenshot tool and built-in AI assistant let you capture and translate it easily.

So, if you’re a manga fan, UPDF is the tool you need to read your favorite stories in any language. So, download it to get started now. You can do the first 100 tasks entirely free!

Here’s how to translate Japanese manga using UPDF.

1. Open your Manga PDF in UPDF. Then click “OCR” in the “Tools” panel.

2. Select “Editable PDF.” Choose the document language as Japanese and select a specific page range. Then, click “Perform OCR.”

3. The converted PDF will now open in UPDF. Select the “AI” icon and click “PDF Translation”.
4. Select the translation language and page range. Then, click “Translate.”

5. If some part of the text isn’t translated, simply click “Chat” from the right menu list. Click the “Screenshot” icon at the bottom.

6. Take a screenshot of the text. It will automatically be sent to UPDF AI. Then, ask UPDF AI to translate the text in the image.

Free Version:

• Test all features
• watermarks
• Analyze 5 files, ask 100 questions with AI

Paid Version:

• UPDF Pro: $39.99/Year, $69.99/Lifetime
• AI Assistant: $79.00/Year, $29.00/Quarter

Formats Supported:

PDF, JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, Docx, Excel, PPT, Visio, CAJ, and more.

Accuracy:

UPDF and its AI provide precise translations, even from blurry text.

Beyond this, UPDF has much more to offer. Buy it at a cheap price today to experience all the features firsthand. Download UPDF via the button below to try it now.

2.    Bubble Translator on Android

Bubble Screen Translate is a screen overlay Japanese manga translator app that can convert any on-screen Japanese text into over 100 languages.

To use it.

1. Open the app and select the source and translation languages.
2. Select “Comic Mode – Vertical” as the translation mode and press “Start.”

3. Open the manga and tap on the floating bubble to translate text.

Free Version:

• Ads
• Limited features.

Paid Version:

In-app purchases for $25/year. The price may vary for specific regions.

Formats Supported:

All formats that can be opened on an Android.

Accuracy:

Japanese translation isn’t accurate. It fails to understand the emotional depth and context of the language.

3.    Ichigo Reader Online Japanese Manga Translator

Ichigo Reader uses 7 AI models for translation, of which only the GPT-4o mini model is free for a limited time. It also offers a mobile app and a Japanese manga translator extension for Chrome.

Here’s how it works.

1. Go to Ichigo Reader’s official website and click “Try it.”
2. Select files to upload. The platform will directly download the translated file, which you can open and view.

Free Version:

GP4-o mini, 20 image uploads total

Paid Version:

Tier 1 ($5.99/Monthly): Deepseek v3, Gemini Flash 2.5 models, more OCR languages, 300 image uploads/hour

Tier 2 ($19.99/Monthly): Grok 3, GPT-4o, Gemini Pro 2.5, Claude Sonnet 3.5 models, 150 Tier 2 image translations/hour, English OCR, No watermark

Formats Supported:

PDF, Zip, and image files.

Accuracy:

It rephrases things a bit and does not maintain the original structure.

4.    Manga Translator by Wiryaimd on Android

It's another Japanese manga translator app for Android with support for over 60 languages. You can translate images and any visible text on screen.

To use it:

1. Open the app. Select your source and target languages.
2. Select whether to translate using Google, DeepL, or GPT-3.

3. Press “Local Image” to upload your images. Then, tap “Process.”

4. Alternatively, turn on ”Screen Overlay” to translate any text from your screen.

Free Version:

• Ads.
• 30 images/day
• Google Translate.

Paid Version:

In-app purchases for additional features.

Formats Supported:

JPG, PNG, and any visible text on screen.

Accuracy:

It requires high-definition images to recognize all the text for accurate translation.

5.    Yandex Translate

Yandex is a free online Japanese manga translator that lets you convert Japanese into almost 100 different languages. It supports translating manga by images, files, and websites.

Here, let’s see how to translate Japanese manga from an image using it.

1. Go to the Yandex translation page. Select a source and target language from the top.
2. Upload your image files to the platform. You can also paste the image URL.

3. You can view the translated file once it is done. Then, click the “Download” icon at the top right to save it.

Free Version:

15 MB document, 5 MB images, 10000 text characters.

Paid Version:

Paid API for text translation with a cost calculated based on the characters.

Formats Supported:

JPG, PNG, GIF, DOCX, DOC, PDF, Excel, PPT, PPTX, and webpages.

Accuracy:

The platform failed to recognize the Japanese text in the image and PDF.

Part 2. Which One Tool is Better?

Don’t know which Japanese manga translator to go for? Here’s a detailed comparison to help you make a smart decision!

Aspects	UPDF	Bubble Translator	Ichigo Reader	Manga Translator by Wiryaimd	Yandex Translate
Platform	Windows & Mac	Android	Online, Android	Android	Online
Translation Method	OCR + AI assistant	Screen overlay	AI models	AI models, Google Translate	Machine translation
Formats Supported	PDFs, JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, Docx, Excel, PPT, Visio, CAJ, and more.	All visible on Android screen	PDF, ZIP, JPG, PNG	JPG and PNG, All visible on Android screen	JPG, PNG, GIF, DOC, DOCX, PDF, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX, and webpages.
Free	Free to test all features	Not all features can be tested	Limited access	Limited access	Limited access
Paid	UPDF Pro: $39.99/Year, $69.99/Lifetime AI Assistant: $79.00/Year, $29.00/Quarter	In-app purchases	Tier 1: $5.99/Monthly Tier 2: $19.99/Monthly	In-app purchases	Custom pricing for API
Accuracy	Very high	Moderate	Decent	Moderate	Not very accurate

As you can see, UPDF is the best choice for translating Japanese manga. Its accurate OCR and AI translation deliver the most accurate results. A lifetime license and plenty of powerful PDF tools are a plus!

Final Words

Whether you want to read your favorite stories on your phone, desktop, or online, these Japanese manga translators have you covered. While all these are useful, UPDF excels with more accurate results and multiple translation methods. It also offers a free trial. Download and try it now.