Japanese startup Orange Inc. announced on Tuesday that it plans to use artificial intelligence to speed up the translation of manga comics into English while significantly reducing costs. The company aims to increase the production of English-language mangas to 500 per month, which is five times higher than the current industry capacity, with a target of 50,000 volumes in five years before expanding to other languages.
Mangas like “One Piece” and “Dragon Ball” are highly popular in Japan, with the market expected to be worth $42.2 billion by 2030, as reported by Orange. However, despite their success, only two percent of Japan’s annual output of 700,000 manga volumes are released in English due to the challenging and time-consuming translation process and a scarcity of translators.
Translating manga poses unique difficulties, as stated by Orange’s marketing vice-president Tatsuhiro Sato. He highlighted the complexity of translating Japanese conversational language that often contains slang and short sentences. Moreover, determining whether spoken lines were actually said in a scene or represent internal thoughts can be a challenge. Additionally, the original text being written vertically and conveying Japanese sound effects into English add to the complexity.
Orange secured 2.92 billion yen ($19 million) in funding from major publisher Shogakukan and nine venture capital groups, including the government-backed JIC Venture Growth Investments. The startup’s AI tool not only promises to increase translation efficiency but also aims to combat piracy in the manga industry, which is estimated to be worth $5.5 billion annually according to the Content Overseas Distribution Association.