OCR Manga Reader

OCR Manga Reader is a free and open source Android app that allows you to quickly OCR and lookup Japanese words in real-time. It does not have ads or telemetry/spyware and does not require an Internet connection. Supports EDICT J-E dictionary, ENAMDICT name dictionary (optional), kanji dictionary, and up to 4 EPWING dictionaries. Requires Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) or higher.

Contents

Features

Screenshots and Usage






Download

Download OCR Manga Reader via SourceForge

Confused about which .apk file to download? Users with relatively new devices should try OCR_Manga_Reader_v9.8_arm64-v8a.apk. The most compatible variant is OCR_Manga_Reader_v9.8_armeabi-v7a.apk. For PC emulators, you should download one of the x86 files.

How to Install a .apk File

  1. First you need to enable the "Unknown sources" option to install apps outside of the Play store. It's done like this: Settings > Security > Unknown sources.
  2. Download the OCR Manga Reader .apk from SourceForge to your device.
  3. Using an Android file manager, tap the .apk file you just downloaded and then tap Install.

How to Enable the Optional Name Dictionary

  1. Download the name dictionary (enamdict.sqlite) from SourceForge.
  2. Copy the name dictionary to <sdcard>/Android/data/com.cb4960.ocrmr/files/
  3. Force stop and then restart OCR Manga Reader.
  4. The next time you OCR some text, entries from the name dictionary will appear after all of the normal dictionary entries in the Dictionary Panel. You may need to scroll down to see them.

How to Change the Format of the Kanji Dictionary

By default, only the meanings of the kanji will be shown in the definition area. To set a custom format:

  1. Create a file called kanji_def_format.txt and place it in <sdcard>/Android/data/com.cb4960.ocrmr/files/
  2. Edit kanji_def_format.txt and specify the format using one or more of the following tokens:

    Token Description
    ${Freq} Kanji frequency.
    ${Grade} Jouyou Kanji grade level.
    ${Halpern} Kanji index number in "New Japanese-English Character Dictionary" by Jack Halpern.
    ${HalpernKkd} Kanji index number in "Kodansha Kanji Dictionary" by Jack Halpern.
    ${Heisig} Kanji index number in "Remembering The Kanji" by James Heisig.
    ${Heisig6} Kanji index number in "Remembering The Kanji, Sixth Ed." by James Heisig.
    ${Henshall} Kanji index number in "A Guide To Remembering Japanese Characters" by Kenneth G. Henshall.
    ${KanjiLearnersDictionary} Kanji index number in "Kanji Learners Dictionary" (Kodansha) edited by Jack Halpern.
    ${KanjiLearnersDictionary2} Kanji index number in "Kanji Learners Dictionary" (Kodansha), 2nd edition (2013) edited by Jack Halpern.
    ${Meanings} Meanings of the kanji.
    ${Nelson} Kanji index number in "Modern Reader's Japanese-English Character Dictionary" by Andrew N. Nelson.
    ${NewNelson} Kanji index number in "The New Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary" by John H. Haig.
    ${Readings} Readings of the kanji.
    ${ReadingsNanori} 名乗り readings of the kanji.
    ${SkipPattern} The "SKIP" coding of the kanji, as used in Halpern.
    ${Strokes} Stroke count.
    ${TuttleKanjiAndKana} Kanji index number in "Japanese Kanji & Kana: A Complete Guide to the Japanese Writing System" by Wolfgang Hadamitzky and Mark Spahn.
    ${TuttleKanjiDic} Kanji index number in "The Kanji Dictionary" by Mark Spahn and Wolfgang Hadamitzky.
    ${Unicode} Unicode/ISO 10646 code.

  3. Restart OCR Manga Reader.

Example format:

${Meanings}.<br />Strokes: ${Strokes}. Heisig: ${Heisig}.

How-To ...

Word Frequencies

The lower the number, the more frequent the word. All words that share the same frequency are members of the same frequency group. So if a word belongs to frequency group 1563, it means that there exist 1562 frequency groups that are more frequent. Colors of the frequency numbers: very common words are green-ish, common words are yellow-ish, uncommon words are orange-ish, rare words are pink-ish. Frequencies are based on analysis of 5000+ novels. Naturally, frequency based on other mediums (such as newspapers) might vary. Not all words have frequency information. When the frequency is based on the reading, and the expression and reading differ, "_r" will be appended to the end of the frequency number to indicate that the frequency number was based on the reading.

Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts

Bluetooth Keyboard

When viewing Manga:

Action Shortcut(s)
Actual Size 4
Browse B
Close X
First Page Home
Fit Height 2
Fit Screen 3
Fit Width 1 or Backspace
Last Page End
Menu M
Next Page Left Arrow or Space
OCR Mode O or Enter
Open File F
Previous Page Right Arrow
Rotate R or Left Bracket or Right Bracket
Scroll Down S
Scroll Left A
Scroll Right D
Scroll Up W
Settings G
Toggle two-page layout P
Zoom In Plus or Up Arrow
Zoom Out Minus or Down Arrow

When OCR mode is active, and TAB is pressed to remove focus from the Dictionary Panel:

Action Shortcut(s)
Exit OCR Node O or Enter
Nudge active capture box corner down S
Nudge active capture box corner left A
Nudge active capture box corner right D
Nudge active capture box corner up W
Send Menu N
Swap active capture box corner E
Toggle Text Orientation
(Vertical/Horizontal/Auto)
T

Bluetooth Mouse

Action Shortcut(s)
Next Page Middle Click
OCR * (see explanation below)
Scroll Down Scroll Wheel Down
Scroll Up Scroll Wheel Up
Tap Left Click
Zoom In Hold left button + Scroll Wheel Up
Zoom Out Hold left button + Scroll Wheel Down

* To easily OCR text, you may either right-click on a word or hold the right mouse button down, drag the mouse to fit the capture box over the desired text, and finally release the right mouse button to OCR the desired text. To exit OCR mode, simply right-click outside of the Dictionary Panel.

Substitutions (advanced)

Sometimes OCR Manga Reader consistently makes the same OCR mistakes.

By editing <sdcard>/Android/data/com.cb4960.ocrmr/files/substitutions.txt you may tell OCR Manga Reader to substitute one text string for another text string.

You may add one substitution per line in this format:

from_text=to_text

Example:

カゝ=か
︿=く
|二=に

Special tokens and escape characters:

%eq% Equals (=)
%perc% Percent sign (%)

You may disable a substitution by adding a "#" in front.

When done editing substitutions.txt, restart OCR Manga Reader.

Known/Todo word lists (advanced)

OCR Manga Reader will display an indicator to the right of a word's reading if that word appears in your list of known words or todo words (words that you don't know yet, but want to learn).

The list of known words must be named known_words.txt and must be placed at <sdcard>/Android/data/com.cb4960.ocrmr/files/known_words.txt.

The list of todo words must be named todo_words.txt and must be placed at <sdcard>/Android/data/com.cb4960.ocrmr/files/todo_words.txt.

By default, neither of these files exists. You will have to create them.

Place exactly one word on each line.

If the word appears in known_words.txt, a * indicator will appear.

If the reading of the word apears in known_words.txt, a *r indicator will appear.

If the word appears in todo_words.txt, a *t indicator will appear.

If the reading of the word appears in todo_words.txt, a *tr indicator will appear.

Example:


Issues/Requests

If you encounter an issue or wish to make a feature request, please create a ticket on SourceForce.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the creators of the following: