Why so many readers want to read raw manga
Your favorite series often takes a long time to get an official translation — and some titles never get one at all. So more and more readers go straight to the raw Japanese or Korean release. The problem: what if you can't read the language?
The usual fix is to translate as you go, which normally means constantly taking screenshots, pasting them into a translator, and switching back to the manga. That's fine for a panel or two, but across a whole chapter or series it completely breaks your reading flow.
Here are the three main ways people translate manga today, so you can pick the one that fits how you read.
Option 1: Screenshots + a general translator
Screenshot the page, then drop it into a general image or text translator.
- Pros: the tools are everywhere, nothing special to install.
- Cons: every page means screenshot, upload, wait, switch back; the translation lives separate from the art; bubble order gets confusing.
Good for looking up the odd panel, not for reading a whole chapter.
Option 2: Upload-based batch translators
Upload manga images, PDFs, or whole chapters to a service, translate them in bulk, then download the result.
- Pros: handles many pages at once, good if you already have the files and want them all translated.
- Cons: you have to prepare the files, upload, wait, and download; it's a different use case from "reading an ongoing series on a website."
Good for people who already have the files and want to process them offline.
Option 3: In-browser real-time translation
Install a browser extension that renders the translation back onto the original page on supported manga sites.
- Pros: no screenshots, no tab switching — open a chapter, click translate, and keep reading; the translated text is placed back into the original speech bubbles, keeping the artwork intact.
- Cons: you need to install an extension and use it on supported sites.
Good for readers who want to follow an ongoing series without breaking their flow. This is the direction Loomic takes.
How Loomic does it
Loomic is a browser extension built for manga readers:
- Open a supported manga site, click translate, and keep reading in your own language.
- The translation is rendered live onto the original page, preserving the original art style instead of opening a separate image.
- Works on Chromium browsers like Chrome, Edge, and Brave, and supports 30+ languages.
- Translations made through the extension are shown live and are not saved as separate translated image files.
One honest note: manga layouts vary a lot. On dense text, stylized fonts, sound effects, or low-resolution pages, results can vary — and that's something we keep improving.
Which one should you pick
- Just checking a panel here and there → screenshots + a translator is enough.
- Already have the files and want them all done → an upload-based batch tool.
- Want to read an ongoing series in-browser without interruptions → real-time translation.
If you're in that last group, you can install the Loomic extension from the Chrome Web Store and see whether reading with live translation works for you.