How to Translate Raw Manga: Complete Guide for 2026

Found a manga series that hasn't been translated into your language? Raw manga — untranslated pages in their original language — can be frustrating when you can't read Japanese, Korean, or Chinese. This guide covers everything you need to know about translating raw manga, from AI-powered tools to manual methods.

What Is Raw Manga?

"Raw" manga refers to manga in its original, untranslated form. This typically means:

• Japanese manga — the vast majority of raws are Japanese-language scans
• Korean manhwa — untranslated webtoons and Korean comics
• Chinese manhua — untranslated Chinese comics

Raws are usually digital scans of physical volumes or rips from official digital platforms. They contain all the original text — dialogue, narration, sound effects, and signs — in the source language.

Challenges of Translating Raw Manga

Translating raws presents unique challenges that don't exist with already-cleaned scanlations:

Low Scan Quality

Many raws circulate as heavily compressed JPEGs or low-resolution scans. This makes OCR (optical character recognition) less accurate. Blurry text, JPEG artifacts, and low DPI all degrade the AI's ability to read characters correctly.

Handwritten and Stylized Text

Manga artists often use handwritten text for casual dialogue, inner thoughts, or background chatter. This text is harder for OCR to recognize compared to standard typeset text in speech bubbles. Stylized fonts and decorative text (common in title pages and sound effects) add further difficulty.

Complex Layouts

Raw manga may include double-page spreads, text outside bubbles, vertical and horizontal text mixed together, and overlapping text on detailed artwork. These layouts require sophisticated text detection.

Sound Effects (Onomatopoeia)

Japanese manga is full of onomatopoeia (e.g., ドキドキ for heartbeats, ゴゴゴ for menacing rumbles) drawn directly into the artwork. These are often the hardest elements to detect and translate.

Method 1: AI Manga Translator (Recommended)

The fastest way to translate raw manga is with an AI-powered tool that handles the entire pipeline automatically. Here's how to use AI Manga Translator:

1. Upload your raw pages — drag and drop JPG, PNG files, or upload a PDF/CBZ archive
2. Select languages — the source language is auto-detected; choose your target language (20+ options)
3. Wait ~30 seconds — the AI detects text, reads it with OCR, translates, removes original text (inpainting), and places the translation
4. Download results — get clean, translated pages ready to read

AI Manga Translator uses specialized models for each stage: Comic Text Detector for finding text regions, manga-ocr for reading Japanese characters, Claude for high-quality translation, and LaMa for background reconstruction.

Method 2: Manual Scanlation

The traditional approach used by fan translation groups:

1. Obtain raws — source the highest quality scans possible
2. Translate — a bilingual translator reads the original and writes the translation
3. Clean — an editor removes original text in Photoshop or GIMP
4. Typeset — place the translated text back into panels with appropriate fonts
5. Proofread — quality check for accuracy and readability

This produces the highest quality results but requires a skilled team and 2-4 hours per chapter. It's the standard for published scanlations but impractical for personal reading.

Tips for Better Results with Raw Manga

• Use the highest resolution available — AI OCR accuracy drops significantly below 600px width. Look for "HQ" or "digital" versions of raws
• Upload individual pages — avoid double-page spreads; split them into single pages first
• Check sound effects manually — AI may skip or mistranslate onomatopoeia drawn into artwork
• Try different sources — if one raw source produces poor results, try finding a cleaner scan
• Use the right source language — make sure the auto-detected language is correct; manually override if needed

For a deeper understanding of how OCR works with manga, check out our manga OCR guide. You can also try our specialized manga scan translator optimized for scanned pages.

Start Translating Raw Manga Now

Ready to read that untranslated manga? Try AI Manga Translator — upload up to 3 pages free per day with no signup. For bulk translation, page packs start at $3.90. The entire process takes less than a minute per page, and you'll get clean, typeset results that look like professional scanlations.