Earlier this year, Orange Inc. launched emaqi, a manga reader app on iOS and Android to readers in the United States and Canada. The reader featured many notable publishers and titles from VIZ Media, Kodansha USA, Yen Press, Akita Shoten, Futabasha, Shonen Gahosha, Nihon Bungeisha, COAMIX, and more. The company was leveraging AI technology which raised concerns. Orange Inc. CEO Shoko Ugaki talked to Anime Trending via email to share more details about the company and goals in the manga industry.
There’s controversy regarding your AI-assisted translations in the manga community. How does a technology that provides uneven results and takes away opportunities for translators, editors, and letterers help support the artform?
Shoko Ugaki: We actually operate on two fronts. First, our app emaqi distributes finished, publisher‑supplied English editions of manga. Those translations are produced entirely by the original rights‑holders, so our role there is simply retail.
Second, we run a manga translation studio that pairs AI with human editorial and design work. Our translations are human‑led, and we believe this model will bring more people into manga localization, not fewer.
Every page published by Orange passes through multiple members of our in‑house professional localization team. Our translators get a head start with large‑language‑model drafts, but manga localization is an artform in and of itself: they take that raw clay and sculpt it so that tone, cultural nuance and humor resonate across borders. Our editors safeguard continuity and voice across all titles, while our letterers design a type that meshes cleanly with each manga author’s style.
This process supports our translators, freeing them to focus on the creative side of localization—understanding the author’s intent and deciding how best to express it—while enabling us to publish more manga. In fact, we are actively hiring more translators, editors, and letterers; anyone interested can apply on our website.
Yes, we did encounter some uneven results in a few early releases and corrected them after listening to feedback from the manga community. Those issues stemmed from human error, not the AI itself, so we’re reinforcing our team and raising our hiring standards to prevent a repeat. We’re gratified to see positive reactions to nearly every new translation we’ve released this year.
Let me turn to what we hope to achieve for the artform and the broader manga community.
As of today, only about 2 percent of Japanese manga has an official English edition (by volume). For most manga authors, there is no outlet to reach English‑speaking readers and losing today’s backlog with the previous, fully manual workflow would take roughly 50 years and a nine‑figure budget. By multiplying human capacity with AI, we aim to achieve more access for readers, support for creators and publishers, and more.
In short, our AI × human professional model is not a cost‑cutting substitute but a capacity multiplier that allows the global manga community to grow wider, richer, and more sustainable for everyone involved.
What’s your end-goal with AI in the translation process? Do you hope to eventually phase out human translators?
Shoko Ugaki: Our objective is to allow translators to focus on the high‑skill parts of the craft while AI handles the repetitive lift, resulting in both a larger library and translations readers and creators can trust. We have no intention of phasing out human translators.
AI‑assisted translation is a modern tool that lets professionals spend less time on rote tasks and more time on nuance, voice, and cultural context. A decade ago, nearly every page of manga was inked on paper, but today, lots of manga authors draw on tablets, with shortcuts and patterns built in. Just as digital art software expanded what they could accomplish, AI amplifies the craft of human translators so more readers can experience a faithful version of the story.
What kind of feedback have you gotten from manga authors regarding the translation quality of their works?
Shoko Ugaki: Manga creators rarely weigh in on the line‑by‑line English phrasing, the feedback we receive is enthusiastic gratitude that an official translation is reaching long‑awaited readers and that they can see directly how much fans appreciate their art. The sentiment we often hear is that what matters most is that new readers are connecting with an official English version that accurately reflects their storytelling and is enjoyed just as passionately as in Japan.”
The authors are very interested in hearing how overseas readers respond to their work, and we’re in a good position to share that feedback directly with them and their publishers.
Shoko Ugaki: emaqi provides US reader reach. We periodically share how many international fans have discovered each series, which series emaqi users are enjoying, and where those readers are located. Several authors have said it’s fascinating to see fans around the world enjoying their work.
We also have anecdotal feedback from conventions and events. At this year’s Anime Expo, we organized display booths for localized titles with PVs and sample booklets. Some authors who visited our booth all the way from Japan—seeing their manga featured and the lines of fans waiting—commented, “It finally feels like my story officially made it abroad.”
We’ve seen a lot of anti-AI sentiment from manga authors. How do you square that with your localization practices?
Shoko Ugaki: We talk regularly with many manga authors and publishers in Japan and the US, and understand that most of the criticism is aimed at AI‑generated artwork—images that may have been trained on the manga author’s drawings without permission. Our AI utilization is completely different.
AI is used for translation assistance and never for illustration. The language models we deploy are customized based on an LLM model, not on copyrighted manga art. No panel, character design, or visual composition is ever copied or synthesized by our system.
On the other hand, we understand that authors and publishers care passionately that every line sounds as they intended in localized versions, so every AI draft is revised by professional translators who consult reference materials, style guides, and—when needed—the publishers themselves. Misreading the author’s intent is our single biggest red flag — and it’s also the place where unauthorized scanlations most often fail.
We work directly with a broad roster of Japanese publishers. To date none has objected to the use of AI in translation; their only stipulation is that quality and fidelity remain high, which is why we have a localization process that uses AI and humans.
You’ve secured strong partnerships with some of the biggest names in manga publishing, such as VIZ Media, Kodansha, Yen Press, and even Shueisha. How did those conversations start, and what do you think convinced them to come on board?
Shoko Ugaki: The talks usually began with a shared problem: every publisher we approached has far more series they want to release in English than their traditional production capacity allows, and they’re eager to reach readers worldwide in both print and digital formats.
When we demonstrated that our AI‑assisted, human‑led localization pipeline could safely multiply output without sacrificing quality, it caught their attention; what convinced them to say “yes” was trust.
A lot of readers are used to subscription-based models when it comes to digital content. Why did emaqi choose a pay-per-title and coin-based system instead?
Shoko Ugaki: Many manga authors and publishers still decline subscription deals (unless it’s on their own platform), so building emaqi around a subscription plan would immediately exclude hundreds of titles we want to showcase.
A coin‑based, pay‑per‑title system lets us list the widest possible lineup, while the “Wait until Free” window gives budget‑minded readers a legal path to try new books. We’re also exploring hybrid options—think Kindle Unlimited–style bundles layered on top of coins—to balance access, creator royalties, and user choice.
For US readers, emaqi is offering titles they’ve never had legal access to before. How do you choose which series make it onto the platform? Is it driven more by volume, fan demand, or hidden gems?
Shoko Ugaki: We blend hard data with editorial passion: platform reading metrics, MyAnimeList rankings, buzz at events like Anime Expo, and social‑media chatter tell us where U.S. demand already exists, while our team actively champions Japanese titles—multi‑volume epics that have sold millions at Japan yet never crossed the ocean. The result is a lineup that pairs proven fan favorites with “hidden gems” we’re convinced North American readers will love once they get the chance to try.
If one of your stated goals is to combat piracy, why are you only starting with the US and Canada, which have a large selection of services to begin with?
Shoko Ugaki: We chose the US and Canada first because that’s where there’s a targeted anti‑piracy effort to provide the market with official translated manga, and deliver the fastest, largest, legitimate return to creators.
Despite a healthy catalog of print releases, North America still lacks an all‑in‑one manga app across iOS and Android; Japan, by contrast, has dozens. The absence of a unified digital storefront is one of the main reasons that fans flock to piracy.
Most major Japanese publishers already maintain subsidiaries or long‑standing partners in the U.S., giving us an established rights and supply chain infrastructure for localized content. That shortens time‑to‑market and lets revenue flow back to creators quickly.
Once that foundation is stable, we intend to expand to additional regions; beginning with North America simply delivers the greatest immediate benefit for the whole ecosystem.
For publishers and creators in Japan, how are they reacting to this new way of making their titles available to fans globally?
Shoko Ugaki: The response from publishers has been overwhelmingly positive. Many houses have long faced a capacity bottleneck: they simply lacked the translation bandwidth to release more than their top‑selling titles abroad. Our hybrid workflow breaks that logjam, so entire back catalogs—classic series, cult favorites, niche gems—can finally reach new readers. As a result, more publishers have begun offering us additional titles, knowing that we can move them to market quickly and at a standard they trust.
Just as important, a legitimate global edition returns royalties to the people who made the book. Pirated copies pay nothing back to creators. Because publishers view themselves as stewards of their authors’ livelihoods, they see any model that expands legal distribution (and therefore creator compensation) as not only welcome but essential; many have told us they plan to keep scaling this approach.
More and more manga authors actively want their stories in the hands of readers worldwide. When they hear there is now a fast, professional path to an English release—one that preserves their intent and still pays them fairly—the typical reaction is excitement, not hesitation. For many, the chance to build a global fan base has become as motivating as success at home.
I’ve heard that you personally own more than 10,000 manga volumes. Is this true? What inspired this kind of collection?
Shoko Ugaki: Yes, it’s true—I’ve crossed the 10,000‑volume mark. The collection grew organically over many years because I grew up in a manga-loving household.
My dad is a huge Tetsuya Chiba fan. Our living room always had copies of Ashita no Joe, I Am Teppei, and Notari Matsutaro lying around, and I fell in love with all three. Notari Matsutaro still sits in my personal top ten.
My mom adores Mitsuru Adachi’s coming‑of‑age stories—Miyuki, Touch, Niji‑iro Togarashi—and she’s equally passionate about Yumi Tamura’s work (BASARA, 7SEEDS, Don’t Call it Mystery). BASARA is one of those titles that both my mother and I rank as a “life book.”
So weekly magazines like Jump, Sunday, and Magazine were just part of the household scenery, and manga became my default language for stories. Though the gaming industry was my first career, manga, anime, and games always sit at the center of what I do.
What manga are you currently reading and invested in?
Shoko Ugaki: It’s almost impossible to narrow it down—but here are the ones I’ve been really wrapped up in lately:
Aoashi – It just wrapped, and I’m still riding the high. I love sports manga in general, and soccer has plenty of classics, but this one has officially become my favorite football series. The way it balances tactics, character growth, and pure adrenaline is next‑level.
Asoko de Hataraku Musubu‑san – Another series that recently concluded. It’s a sweet workplace romance… set in a workplace you’d never expect. I looked forward to every chapter.
Radiation House – By the same creator as Musubu‑san, but this time we’re following radiologists rather than office workers. Think medical drama meets slow‑burn romance. I recommend picking up both titles back‑to‑back.
Others such as Starting Over at Magic School with My Ex from the Prologue and FX Senshi Kurumi‑chan.
Lastly, let me say that every series we license for emaqi is hand‑picked by people who are at least as manga‑obsessed as I am, so if it’s on the platform, somebody on the team already loves it. My personal favorites are Liverreaf, Donketsu, Neko oji: Salaryman reincarnated as a kitten! Bachi‑Bachi, The Kawai Complex Guide to Manors and Hostel Behavior.
