Following the recent investment by Japanese government and private sector on an initiative aimed at using AI to translate and export manga at high volumes, Mantra, an AI translation technology company specializing in manga, has raised a total of approximately ¥780 million in its latest funding round.
The investment was secured through a third-party allotment of shares, with prominent investors including Shueisha, Shogakukan, and KADOKAWA, Square Enix Holdings, MPower Partners Fund L.P., and Takeshi Hamagaki, the founder of Tetsuryokukai.
With this substantial funding, Mantra aims to enhance the accuracy of its manga AI translation to a level where end-users can enjoy reading translated content seamlessly.
The company also plans to expand its translation technology to novels, games, and videos, striving to streamline translation processes across various entertainment fields.
“Our goal has always been to remove language barriers from 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 business promotion of AI translation for manga, games, and novels,” stated Mantra’s CEO, Shonosuke Ishiwatari.
Mantra’s cloud-based translation tool, Mantra Engine, is designed specifically for manga and vertical scroll 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 placement 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-precision manga machine translation. This achievement was recognized academically, being accepted as a full paper at the top international conference in the field of artificial intelligence, AAAI, and awarded the AAMT Nagao Prize by the Asia-Pacific Association for Machine Translation,” stated 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 simultaneous multilingual distribution for several prominent titles, including:
- For Shogakukan: Kengan Omega and Kengan Ashura (translated into English)
- For Shueisha: ONE PIECE and SPY×FAMILY (translated into Vietnamese), and Bye Bye Bye and I Want to Eat Horse Sashimi (translated into English)
- For Bushiroad Works: The Ancient Magus’ Bride and Ghost and Witch (translated into English)
Shuhei Hosono, Editor-in-Chief of Shonen Jump+ at Shueisha, emphasized the importance of Mantra’s technology in the current landscape, revealing that titles in MANGA Plus have been partially translated by Mantra.
“In 2022, I commented that ‘the main theme for manga in the next decade will be internationalization and multilingualism,’ and I feel this trend is accelerating more than I imagined. Our service ‘MANGA Plus by SHUEISHA,’ which has been partially translated by Mantra, now supports nine languages. In this context, Mantra’s technology is becoming increasingly important.
Through our collaboration in ‘Langaku,’ we have been able to understand the field of manga. Mantra’s strength lies not only in aiming for efficiency but also in enhancing translation technology with the readers in mind. Let’s continue to provide valuable experiences to manga fans around the world together.“
Yuki Wada, Producer of the Universal Media Business Department and Head of the 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 numerous translation trials for ‘MangaONE,’ achieving remarkable success.
For publishers like ours, global expansion is becoming increasingly crucial. This entails the ability to directly reach a worldwide audience simultaneously from Japan. We are confident that Mantra’s technology plays a pivotal 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 consistently impressed by the Mantra team’s dedication, passion, and deep understanding of the realities of the publishing industry. This expertise 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 worldwide. Let’s join forces to bring manga to the world!”
Ichiro Hashiba, Executive Director and CDO at KADOKAWA Corporation, also expressed strong support for Mantra’s advancements stating that it will be invaluable for Japanese publishing industry as they embark on global expansion.
“My first encounter with Mr. Ishiwatari was in August 2018, when he was still a student at the University of Tokyo Graduate School, under the guidance of Professor Kirenkawa, before Mantra’s inception. I vividly recall our discussions on the essence of manga translation technology and the role of AI in this domain. Over the years, fueled by the remarkable advancements 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 unveiled, will prove invaluable for the Japanese publishing industry as it embarks on its global manga expansion journey.
Together, let us strive towards a world where manga transcends linguistic barriers, reaching audiences worldwide. Let us accelerate the day when the vision of ‘delivering manga in the world’s languages’ and ‘distributing as many works as possible that have yet to overcome the language barrier’ becomes a reality.“
Source: Anime Recorder