3 Ways to Read Raw Japanese Manga (2026)

Some of the best manga ever made is far from fully available in English. Kingdom has sold over 92 million copies but only started getting official English volumes from VIZ in late 2025, with just a few volumes out so far. Hajime no Ippo began official English digital chapters on K MANGA in late 2023, but the backlog is enormous. Entire genres like josei are barely represented in English at all.

Even for series that do get translated, Japanese chapters are often weeks or months ahead. And fan translation groups shut down constantly.

If you want to read raw manga, there are three approaches, each suited to different goals.

Approach 1: AI Translation (Instant, No Japanese Needed)

If you just want to read the story in English right now, AI translation tools replace the Japanese text on the page with English in a few seconds.

Browser extensions are the fastest path. Install one, navigate to any manga reader site or drag-drop local images, click a page, and the translated version appears. Both KitsuTL and Torii let you choose your LLM backend (GPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, etc.) and support batch mode for full chapters.

Quality: Modern LLMs handle standard dialogue well. You will get a solid read of any story. Weak spots are pronouns (Japanese drops them constantly), wordplay, and character-specific speech quirks. For a deeper breakdown of what AI gets right and wrong, see our doujinshi translation guide.

Cost: A manga chapter runs about 2-5 cents. Both KitsuTL and Torii offer 20 free credits to try before buying.

Approach 2: Assisted Reading (For Japanese Learners)

If you are studying Japanese and want to actually read the original text with help, there is a whole toolchain built for this. The idea is not to replace the Japanese but to make it accessible through popup dictionaries and selectable text.

The Core Workflow: Mokuro + Yomitan

Mokuro is an open-source tool that runs OCR on manga pages and generates HTML files with selectable, hoverable text overlaid on each page. After processing, you can open these files in your browser and interact with the text like it was a regular webpage.

Yomitan (the successor to Yomichan) is a browser extension that shows dictionary popups when you hover over Japanese text. It gives you readings, definitions, pitch accent, and example sentences. Combined with Mokuro output, you can hover over any word in a manga panel and instantly look it up.

The setup:

1. Install Yomitan in your browser and load dictionary files (JMdict for definitions, KANJIDIC for kanji)
2. Run Mokuro on your manga files (requires Python, processes volumes locally)
3. Open the generated HTML files in your browser
4. Hover over any word to get instant dictionary lookups
5. Optionally, send unknown words to Anki as flashcards with one click

This is the workflow that the Japanese learning community on r/LearnJapanese uses most for manga. It is slower than AI translation but you are actually building reading ability.

Pre-Learning Vocabulary: jpdb.io

jpdb.io is a dictionary and spaced repetition system that has analyzed word frequency across thousands of anime, novels, and manga. You can look up a specific manga and see its vocabulary ranked by frequency.

The practical use: before starting a new manga, look it up on jpdb and pre-learn the 50-100 most common words you do not already know. This dramatically reduces how often you need to stop and look things up while reading.

Choosing the Right Manga: Natively

Natively is a community-powered difficulty grading system for Japanese books and manga. Users compare pairs of titles, and the system generates Elo-based difficulty scores that roughly map to JLPT levels.

This solves the common problem of picking up a manga that is way too hard and getting frustrated. Check Natively first, find something at your level, and work up gradually.

Manga Difficulty Tiers

If you are learning Japanese and wondering where to start, here is the community consensus on manga difficulty:

Beginner (JLPT N5-N4, with heavy dictionary use):

• Yotsuba&! is the universal first recommendation. Simple vocabulary, furigana on all kanji, daily life situations. One caveat: the child protagonist speaks in grammatically unusual ways, which is not ideal as a model for your own Japanese.
• Shirokuma Cafe (Polar Bear Cafe) has very simple vocabulary and slice-of-life pacing.
• Flying Witch is good because the protagonist speaks politely (です/ます form), which is closer to what textbooks teach.

Lower Intermediate (N4-N3):

• Most shonen manga: Spy x Family, Blue Box (Ao no Hako), My Hero Academia
• Dialogue is casual but vocabulary stays manageable

Upper Intermediate (N3-N2):

• Most seinen manga
• Series with specialized vocabulary (cooking, sports, medical)

Advanced (N2-N1):

• Historical manga with archaic language
• Political or literary series
• Anything heavy on wordplay or dialect

Realistic timeline: Most learners report needing around 6 months of study before the easiest manga is approachable (with constant dictionary lookups), about a year before beginner manga flows, and two years before most shonen is comfortable reading.

Furigana matters. Manga aimed at younger audiences (shonen, shoujo) includes furigana (tiny kana readings above kanji). Seinen and josei manga often drop furigana, which makes them significantly harder even if the vocabulary is similar.

Approach 3: Visual Reading

Some readers just read the raws without translating. Manga is a visual medium, and for many series you can follow the plot through artwork, body language, panel composition, and action sequences alone.

This works best for action-heavy manga where the story is told visually. It works poorly for dialogue-driven series, mysteries, or anything where plot details are conveyed through conversation.

It is also how many collectors read. Buying the Japanese volumes lets you experience the original art, typography, and sound effects as the artist intended, without localization changes.

Where to Get Raw Manga Legally

Free Platforms (Publisher-Backed)

These are official, free, and legal:

• Manga Plus (Shueisha): All new Shonen Jump and Jump+ chapters on release day. First 3 and latest 3 chapters free for older series. As of late 2025, Weekly Young Jump titles are included too.
• ComicWalker (Kadokawa): Around 300 series with rotating free chapters. Both Japanese and English tabs available.
• Comic Days (Kodansha): Free daily chapters from Magazine, Afternoon, and other Kodansha magazines.
• Sunday Webry (Shogakukan): Free Shonen Sunday titles.

Between these four platforms you have access to manga from every major publisher for free.

Digital Purchase

For series not available free, or if you want full volumes:

• BookWalker (Kadokawa) is the most international-friendly option. Accepts PayPal and international credit cards. Frequent sales. One important limitation: manga pages are images, not selectable text, so browser dictionary extensions will not work without Mokuro.
• Amazon Japan Kindle works if you set your Kindle region to Japan (you can use any address). Best paid with Amazon Japan gift cards to avoid credit card issues. Advantage: uses the same Kindle app you probably already have.

Physical Imports

• CDJapan ships worldwide with reasonable rates
• Kinokuniya has physical stores in the US and Australia
• Amazon Japan ships many physical books internationally

Buying manga directly supports the mangaka. Most manga volumes cost 500-700 yen ($3-5).

Japanese Onomatopoeia in Manga

Manga is full of sound effects and non-sound expressions written directly into the artwork. Japanese has roughly 1,200 commonly used onomatopoeia, divided into three types:

Giongo (擬音語) are sounds from objects and nature:

Giseigo (擬声語) are sounds from living things:

Gitaigo (擬態語) describe states and feelings, not actual sounds:

Gitaigo is the most uniquely Japanese category. These words appear constantly in manga but never on the JLPT and rarely in textbooks. Learning the common ones helps with both AI-translated and raw reading.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best way to read untranslated manga?

It depends on your goal. If you want instant English, use a browser extension like KitsuTL or Torii. If you are learning Japanese, set up Mokuro + Yomitan for popup dictionary lookups. If you just want to see what happens next in a series, visual reading works for action-heavy manga.

Can I read manga without knowing any Japanese?

Yes. AI translation tools handle the full process (OCR, translation, text rendering) automatically. No Japanese knowledge required. A chapter costs a few cents and processes in under a minute.

What manga should I start with if I am learning Japanese?

Yotsuba&! is the universal recommendation for beginners. It has simple vocabulary, full furigana, and everyday situations. After that, move to shonen titles like Spy x Family or Blue Box. Check Natively for community difficulty ratings before picking a new series.

Where can I read raw manga for free legally?

Manga Plus (Shueisha), ComicWalker (Kadokawa), Comic Days (Kodansha), and Sunday Webry (Shogakukan) all offer free chapters from their catalogs. Between them you have access to titles from every major Japanese publisher.

How long does it take to learn enough Japanese to read manga?

Most learners report about 6 months before the easiest manga is approachable with constant dictionary lookups, about a year before beginner manga flows reasonably, and about two years before most shonen is comfortable. Using Mokuro + Yomitan to create Anki flashcards while reading accelerates this significantly.

What is Mokuro and how does it work?

Mokuro is a free open-source tool that runs OCR on manga images and generates HTML files with selectable text overlaid on each page. You open these files in your browser and can hover over any word to get dictionary popups via the Yomitan extension. It turns image-based manga into interactive, learner-friendly pages.

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Last updated: 2026.