Following recent investment by the Japanese government and private sector in an initiative that aims to use AI to translate and export manga in large volumes, Mantraan AI translation technology company specializing in manga, has raised a total of approximately ¥780 million in its latest round of funding.

The investment was secured through a third-party equity distribution, with prominent investors including Shueisha, Shogakukan and KADOKAWA, Square Enix Holdings, MPower Partners Fund LP and Takeshi Hamagaki, the founder of Tetsuryokukai.

With this substantial funding, Mantra aims to increase the accuracy of its manga AI translation to a level where end-users can enjoy reading the translated content without any hassle.

The company also plans to expand its translation technology to novels, games and videos, striving to streamline translation processes in various entertainment fields.

“Our goal has always been to remove language barriers in entertainment. With the rapid advancement of LLMs and image generation AI, a future where language barriers in entertainment are completely removed is becoming more imaginable. We are honored to receive support from leading companies and investors and will deepen our collaboration to accelerate the research, development and commercial promotion of AI translation for manga, games and novels,“declared CEO of Mantra, Shonosuke Ishiwatari.

Mantra’s cloud-based translation tool, Mantra Engine, is designed specifically for vertically scrolling manga and comics. The tool translates up to 100,000 pages of manga and comics per month, equivalent to approximately 500 volumes, for domestic and international publishers, translation companies, and distribution service providers.

“Manga presents numerous challenges for translation, including irregular positioning of images and text, unique conversational expressions, and complex contexts behind the stories. By integrating manga-specific image recognition and machine translation, Mantra has achieved high-accuracy manga machine translation. This achievement has been recognized academically, being accepted as a full paper at the leading international conference in the field of artificial intelligence, AAAI, and receiving the AAMT Nagao Award from the Asia-Pacific Association for Machine Translation.”, said Mantra.

The tool currently supports translations involving Japanese, English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Portuguese, with plans to expand to more languages.

Mantra Engine has successfully facilitated the simultaneous multilingual distribution of several major titles, including:

• For Shogakukan: Kengan Omega and Ashura King (translated into English)
• To Shueisha: ONE PIECE and SPY×FAMILY (translated into Vietnamese), and Bye bye bye and I want to eat horse sashimi (translated into English)
• For works in Bushiroad: The Ancient Magus' Bride and Ghost and Witch (translated into English)

Shuhei Hosono, editor-in-chief of Shueisha's Shonen Jump+emphasized the importance of Mantra's technology in the current scenario, revealing that MANGA Plus titles were partially translated by Mantra.

“In 2022, I commented that 'the main theme of manga in the next decade will be internationalization and multilingualism,' and I feel that this trend is accelerating more than I imagined. Our 'MANGA Plus by SHUEISHA' service, which was partially translated by Mantra, now supports nine languages. In this context, Mantra's technology is becoming increasingly important.

Through our collaboration on ‘Langaku’, we have been able to understand the field of manga. Mantra’s strength lies not only in pursuing efficiency, but also in improving translation technology with readers in mind. Let’s continue to work together to provide valuable experiences to manga fans around the world.“

Yuki WadaProducer of Universal Media Business Department and Head of XR Business Promotion Office at Shogakukan Inc.highlighted the importance of global expansion for publishers, stating that Mantra's technology will play an important role in achieving this.

“Our relationship with Mantra began in 2021 through Shogakukan’s accelerator program. Over the years, we have collaborated on several translation tests for ‘MangaONE,’ achieving remarkable success.

For publishers like ours, global expansion is becoming increasingly crucial. This means being able to directly reach a global audience simultaneously from Japan. We are confident that Mantra’s technology will play a key role in achieving this goal.

While AI and other technologies are undoubtedly transformative, the human element remains equally, if not more, important. In this regard, we are continually impressed by the Mantra team’s dedication, passion, and deep understanding of the realities of the publishing industry. This experience is a significant advantage.

This year marks the beginning of another exciting project with Mantra. Together, we are embarking on a journey to create groundbreaking works that will resonate with audiences around the world. Let’s join forces to bring manga to the world!”

Ichiro HashibaChief Executive Officer and CDO of KADOKAWA Corporationalso expressed strong support for Mantra's advancements, stating that it will be invaluable to the Japanese publishing industry as it embarks on global expansion.

“I first met Mr. Ishiwatari in August 2018, when he was still a student at the University of Tokyo Graduate School under Professor Kirenkawa, before Mantra started. I vividly remember our discussions on the essence of manga translation technology and the role of AI in this domain. Over the years, fueled by remarkable advances in AI, Mantra’s technology has undergone a remarkable transformation since those early days. I am confident that Mantra’s solutions, including those yet to be revealed, will be invaluable to the Japanese publishing industry as it embarks on its journey of global manga expansion.

Together, let us strive for a world where manga transcends language barriers, reaching audiences all over the world. Let us hasten the day when the vision of “delivering manga in the world’s languages” and “distributing as many works as possible that have not yet crossed the language barrier” becomes a reality.“

Source: Anime Recorder