🖼️ Manga OCR Translator

🚀 Extract and translate text from manga images in minutes. Upload manga panels, choose source and target languages, and get translated text. Supports 16 source languages and any target language. No coding, no translation accounts required.

🕒 Last updated: 2026-04-23 · 🌐 16 source languages · 📝 OCR + translation · 🔄 Two-step translation · 🚫 No auth required

The Manga OCR Translator reads text from manga panel images, recognizes it using OCR, and translates it to your target language. Each result returns the original text, detected language, translated text in one or more languages, and text bounding boxes. Supports 16 source languages including Japanese, Korean, Chinese, English, and more.

The Actor includes an optional two-step translation enhancer that runs the text through an LLM for more natural, context-aware manga translations.

🎯 Target Audience	💡 Primary Use Cases
Manga fans, translation teams, publishers, scanlation groups, localization services, accessibility tools	Manga translation, webtoon localization, OCR text extraction, multilingual publishing, fan translation

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📋 What the Manga OCR Translator does

Image-to-translation in one step:

• 🖼️ Image input. Upload manga panel image URLs for OCR processing.
• 🌐 16 source languages. Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified/Traditional), English, French, German, Spanish, and more.
• 🌍 Any target language. Translate extracted text to one or more target languages.
• 🔄 Translation enhancer. Optional two-step LLM process for more natural manga translations.

Each result includes the original extracted text, detected source language, translations in each target language, and text positions within the image.

💡 Why it matters: translating manga page by page requires reading Japanese/Korean text, typing it out, and running it through translators. This Actor combines OCR and translation in a single pipeline, processing entire chapters in minutes.

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🎬 Full Demo

🚧 Coming soon: a 3-minute walkthrough showing how to go from upload to translated text.

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⚙️ Input

Input	Type	Default	Behavior
imageUrls	array	[]	Manga image URLs to process.
originalLanguage	string	"ja"	Source language of the manga text (e.g. "ja", "ko", "zh").
targetLanguages	array	["en"]	One or more target languages for translation.
enableLingoTranslationEnhancer	boolean	false	Two-step LLM translation for more natural results.

Example: translate Japanese manga panels to English.

{
    "imageUrls": ["https://example.com/manga-page-1.jpg", "https://example.com/manga-page-2.jpg"],
    "originalLanguage": "ja",
    "targetLanguages": ["en"]
}

Example: Korean webtoon to English and Spanish with enhancer.

{
    "imageUrls": ["https://example.com/webtoon-1.jpg"],
    "originalLanguage": "ko",
    "targetLanguages": ["en", "es"],
    "enableLingoTranslationEnhancer": true
}

⚠️ Good to Know: OCR accuracy depends on image quality and text clarity. Clean, high-resolution scans produce the best results. Very stylized or hand-drawn text may have lower recognition accuracy.

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📊 Output

Each processed image returns OCR + translation data. Download the dataset as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML.

🧾 Schema

Field	Type	Example
🖼️ imageUrl	string	"https://example.com/manga-page-1.jpg"
📝 originalText	string	"こんにちは世界"
🌐 detectedLanguage	string	"ja"
🌍 translations	object	{ "en": "Hello world" }
📐 textBounds	array	[{ x, y, width, height }]
⏱️ processingTimeMs	number	2400
🕒 createdAt	ISO 8601	"2026-04-16T00:00:00.000Z"

📦 Sample records

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✨ Why choose this Actor

	Capability
🌐	16 source languages. Japanese, Korean, Chinese, English, French, German, and more.
🌍	Any target language. Translate to one or multiple languages simultaneously.
🔄	Translation enhancer. Optional LLM step for natural manga-style translations.
📐	Text positions. Bounding box coordinates for each detected text region.
📦	Batch processing. Upload multiple pages and translate them all in one run.
⚡	Fast. Typical panels process in 2-4 seconds each.
🚫	No accounts needed. No translation API keys required from you.

📊 The global manga market exceeds $10 billion annually, with growing demand for localized editions. Automated OCR + translation makes fan translations and professional localization faster and more accessible.

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📈 How it compares to alternatives

Approach	Cost	Languages	OCR + translate	Batch	Setup
⭐ Manga OCR Translator (this Actor)	$5 free credit, then pay-per-use	16 source, any target	Combined	Yes	⚡ 2 min
Manual OCR + Google Translate	Free	Many	Separate steps	No	🕒 Per page
Paid translation services	$0.10-0.20/word	Many	Separate	Some	⏳ Hours
Manga translation apps	Free-$10/month	Limited	Combined	Limited	🕒 Variable

Pick this Actor when you want OCR + translation in a single pipeline, with batch support and natural-language enhancement.

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🚀 How to use

1. 📝 Sign up. Create a free account with $5 credit (takes 2 minutes).
2. 🌐 Open the Actor. Go to the Manga OCR Translator page on the Apify Store.
3. 🎯 Set input. Upload image URLs, pick source and target languages.
4. 🚀 Run it. Click Start and let the Actor process your panels.
5. 📥 Download. Grab your translations in the Dataset tab as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML.

⏱️ Total time from signup to translated text: 3-5 minutes. No coding required.

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💼 Business use cases

📚 Translation Teams & Publishers Batch-translate manga chapters for localization Extract text for professional translator review Process multiple source languages in one run Build translation memory databases	🌐 Fan Translation & Scanlation Speed up fan translation workflows Process entire volumes in batch Support multi-language releases Combine with manga colorizer for full production
🎓 Language Learning & Research Study original text alongside translations Build parallel text corpora from manga Analyze translation quality across languages Create language learning materials from manga	♿ Accessibility Extract text from image-only manga for screen readers Create text-based versions of visual content Build searchable text archives from manga Support assistive technology integration

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🌟 Beyond business use cases

Data like this powers more than commercial workflows. The same structured records support research, education, civic projects, and personal initiatives.

🎓 Research and academia Empirical datasets for papers, thesis work, and coursework Longitudinal studies tracking changes across snapshots Reproducible research with cited, versioned data pulls Classroom exercises on data analysis and ethical scraping	🎨 Personal and creative Side projects, portfolio demos, and indie app launches Data visualizations, dashboards, and infographics Content research for bloggers, YouTubers, and podcasters Hobbyist collections and personal trackers
🤝 Non-profit and civic Transparency reporting and accountability projects Advocacy campaigns backed by public-interest data Community-run databases for local issues Investigative journalism on public records	🧪 Experimentation Prototype AI and machine-learning pipelines with real data Validate product-market hypotheses before engineering spend Train small domain-specific models on niche corpora Test dashboard concepts with live input

🤖 Ask an AI assistant about this scraper

Open a ready-to-send prompt about this ParseForge actor in the AI of your choice:

• 💬 ChatGPT
• 🧠 Claude
• 🔍 Perplexity
• 🅒 Copilot

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

💳 Do I need a paid Apify plan to run this actor?

No. You can start right now on the free Apify plan, which includes $5 in free monthly credit. That is enough to run this actor several times and explore the output before committing to anything. Paid plans unlock higher limits, more concurrent runs, and larger datasets. Create a free Apify account here to get started.

🚨 What happens if my run fails or returns no results?

Failed runs are not charged. If the source site changes, proxies get rate-limited, or a specific input matches nothing, re-run the actor or open our contact form and we will investigate. You can also check the run log in the Apify console to see why the run stopped.

📏 How many items can I scrape per run?

Free users are limited to 10 items per run so you can preview the output and confirm the actor works for your use case. Paid users can raise maxItems up to 1,000,000 per run. Upgrade here if you need full scale.

🕒 How fresh is the data?

Every run fetches live data at the moment of execution. There is no cache or delay: the records you get reflect what the source returned at that moment. Schedule the actor to maintain a rolling snapshot of the data you need.

🧑‍💻 Can I call this actor from my own code?

Yes. Apify exposes every actor as a REST endpoint and ships first-class SDKs for Node.js and Python. You can start a run, read the dataset, and handle webhooks from your own app in a few lines. All you need is your Apify API token.

📤 How do I export the data?

Every Apify dataset can be downloaded in one click from the console as CSV, JSON, JSONL, Excel, HTML, XML, or RSS. You can also pull results programmatically via the Apify API or stream them into BigQuery, S3, and other destinations through built-in integrations.

📅 Can I schedule the actor to run automatically?

Yes. Use the Apify scheduler to run the actor on any cadence, from hourly to monthly. Results are saved to your dataset and can be delivered to webhooks, email, Slack, cloud storage, or automation tools such as Zapier and Make.

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🔌 Automating Manga OCR Translator

Control the translator programmatically for batch processing and pipeline integrations:

• 🟢 Node.js. Install the apify-client NPM package.
• 🐍 Python. Use the apify-client PyPI package.
• 📚 See the Apify API documentation for full details.

🔌 Integrate with any app

Manga OCR Translator connects to any cloud service via Apify integrations:

• Make - Automate multi-step workflows
• Zapier - Connect with 5,000+ apps
• Slack - Get notifications when translations are ready
• Airbyte - Pipe results into your pipeline
• GitHub - Trigger from commits
• Google Drive - Export translations to Drive

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🔗 Recommended Actors

• 🎨 Modern Manga Colorizer - AI manga colorization from B&W panels
• 🎨 Pixel Art Generator - AI pixel art from text prompts
• 🖼️ Watermark Images - Batch watermarking
• 📸 Restaurant Photo Enhancer - Food photo enhancement
• 🎬 Auto Video Thumbnail Generator - Video thumbnails

💡 Pro Tip: browse the complete ParseForge collection for more creative and translation tools.

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🆘 Need Help? Open our contact form to request a new tool, propose a custom project, or report an issue.

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⚠️ Disclaimer: this Actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any manga publisher or OCR provider. All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.