This guide is basically telling where you can get the best manga and LN
Directory
Obviously, you can also pirate it but I'm not telling how.
In general, the best possible quality you can get from multiple store front are like this:
PDF > Neon Ichiban > GlobalComix > Comixology > Play Books / Bookwalker / Kobo > Apple Books > Other store front
Also, all storefront has some kind of DRM. The following are the most easy to most hard to break:
- Play Books
- Kobo, Amazon Kindle
- Bookwalker
- Apple Books
- Comixology (2023-07+)
Sometimes Kindle is refered with (Post-CMX app nuke), this is more after around July 2023 where they started discontinuing the old API, I decided to use this naming after Amazon decide to actually remove the app from December.
Honestly, the Comixology is just a reskin of Amazon Kindle app with extra features so the app nuke does not suprise me. For a way to get the "HD" version of it you would need a good enough screen resolution and DPI, register your device and try to download older titles which you know have CMX HD version and see if your Kindle notifies double download (the second one notifies for HD download) and the obvious KFX format.
- PDF via Humble or Fanatical (x4xxx 600dpi, some newer stuff actually have more content that got cut-off)
- Neon Ichiban (x4716 usually, Vertical stuff at x4350)
- Old Comixology (x3xxx to x4xxx)
- GlobalComix (2560x, depending on the trim size it could be a bit smaller or higher.)
- Kindle HD (~x2702) (Before 2024-07-31, everything after is Kindle SD only)
- Kobo, Apple Books, Play Books (x2278, can be higher if trim size is larger)
- Other storefront
2023 Edit
Kodansha recently provided their own storefront with almost no DRM, their quality is around x21xx so it is not great option since there is Kobo.
2024-07-30 Edit
Kodansha stopped doing "Comixology" release, you can see it on their book page where it only say "Kindle Edition" instead of "Kindle & Comixology"
Some release in 2024-07-30 also doesn't have Comixology version anymore.
- Kobo/Overdrive (x2250 / x2475)
- Comixology (Old Release) (x3056) Upscaled
- Play Books (x21XX)
VIZ release on CMX are upscaled, the original resolution are at x2250 or x2475 (Shogakukan titles usually).
- GlobalComix (2560x, only some series), their color pages is upsampled. So make sure to resize to Legacy CMX size for better quality
- (Legacy) Comixology (x3056+)
- Kindle HD (x2565) (Before 2024-07-16/Week 3, everything after is Kindle SD only)
- Play Books, Kobo (x2000)
- Other storefront
Seven Seas stopped doing "Comixology" release, you can see it on their book page where it only say "Kindle Edition" instead of "Kindle & Comixology"
All storefront at x1350, recommended to get from Kobo.
You can also replace the cover image from yen press website (which is around x2400)
2023 Edit
Website changes, use Apple Books/iBooks website to get the cover at x2400 (bookmarklet script)
- J-Novel Club (x3840, DRM-free)
- Comixology (old releases, discontinued) (x4XXX)
- Everywhere else (x2560) [Play Books Preferred]
All storefront at x1600 (old titles) and around x2300 (new titles).
Recommended getting it from Kobo.
- Kobo/Overdrive (around x2240)
- ???
- ???
I haven't check nor compare the quality, but Kobo should be at "Native"
Although, their image are fucking blurred to oblivion, you need to apply some method of deblurring to get a nicer quality.
- Buy from their store, they provide a PDF which you could export at 600dpi (cover at 300dpi). It's also DRM-Free
- Similar to FAKKU at x3200 since they're from the same parent company.
- Buy from their stores for DRM-free version.
- Buy from their own store at x4800, ONLY for the one published by Omoi themselves
- Also DRM-free AFAIK
x1200... (all storefront)
Just get it from wherever...
- Available only on Amazon Kindle
- x1800 resolution
- A shitty digital compilation, it basically just barebones chapters from their app thrown together with Cover and Colophon and they called it a day.
- Neon Ichiban (x4128, small catalogue)
- Other storefront (x2150, Kobo recommended)
Also if you know where to get PDF file, you should be able to render at x4299
- Old Comixology (x3056/x3263)
- Neon Ichiban (576dpi, around ~x4xxx usually, no Manga available)
- GlobalComix (2560x, small catalogue)
- Other storefront (~x2400)
Also if you know where to get PDF file, you should be able to render at x4350
- PDF, via Humble or Fanatical
- Kobo, or other storefront (~x2378)
Kobo, or other storefront (x2048)
- PDF (Humble or Fanatical)
- Kobo, or other storefront (x1800)
x3200 PNG (also DRM-free), get it from their website.
For Irodori Comics, they are using PDF so you need to extract them.
For FAKKU, use their PNG option since it's easier and they did it for you.
In general, get everything from Kobo since they have the best possible image quality you can get compared to Amazon Kindle or other platforms.
Get every JNC titles from JNC itself, it will contains some extra bonus and sometimes include high res insert color. It is also DRM-free.
2023 Edit
Nowadays, it is also cheaper to get from JNC directly. Every other storefront has their price bumped by 1$
The following are information about manga published in a Web/Mobile App that does not have any volume release by the publisher yet.
- x2048 JPEG/WEBP
- A bit annoying to rip from.
In general, some of Square Enix manga that are licensed by Comikey are also available in Manga UP! and are easier to rip from.
- Around x3072 AVIF
- Easy to rip, just need to get token one way or another.
- Use
imagemagickto batch convert from AVIF to PNG/JPEG. - Has some Comikey licensed stuff here too.
A very easy and actually affordable web manga application, their TL quality are uhhh questionable and sometimes they fucked up pages so I guess QC be damned.
It cost around 1.99$ to unlock 16 chapters (not including advanced chapter).
- Around x1378 JPEG, with some already released as volume around x2278
- You might also get lucky sometimes with x1600
- Web version is scrambled, only the mobile version is unscrambled.
- NA region locked, so you need VPN.
If you like Kodansha stuff, you might like K MANGA.
It cost 1.99$ to unlock 1-2 chapters, they basically priced their chapter cost that will collect up for a whole volume worth.
Although not most of the times.
They don't really publish on their own platform but via:
- BookWalker / Play Books (x2048)
Both have same image quality
This section will basically tells the general tools that can be used to rip some storefront.
DeDRM with Calibre is your friend.
On Kobo, you can download an .acsm files that you can drop into Calibre w/ ACSM + DeDRM plugin
For Google Play Books, you can use Adobe Digital Editions then DeDRM to break the DRM, make sure the purchased manga/LN can be exported to pdf file. For the Manga, you can inspect the network tab and intercept all the images.
2023 Edit
Google Play started encrypting their images a while back, there is a way to get the unencrypted images.
For Comixology, the tools are available online. Please search it yourself.
2023-07 Edit
Comixology disabled their legacy/old API so all CMX rips are essentially "stopped." danke did some before they went missing again.
As far as I know, they now use Kindle API but with some parameters (most likely device locked) to get CMX version of it, it also use different algorithm to protect it although as far as I know that's already broken.
Since December 3rd 2023, Amazon decide to nuke CMX app out of the orbit and merge both Comixology and Kindle app together into one Kindle app.
There is actually two resolution which are mostly tied to device and account:
- Standard x1920 resolution
- Post-CMX app nuke resolution (One I already listed for some)
The Post-CMX version must be a format called KFX which would actually return "Comixology" version.
If you manage to source a PDF files, either from Humble Bundle or Fanatical, I recommend: npdf
This is a tool powered with poppler, specifically made to export manga (and comics). To use: npdf export -r 600 --auto-dpi vertical -c auto -o ./output ./yout-input-pdf.pdf
Which would invoke it with:
- Automatically select DPI based on vertical size
- Render at 600dpi as the baseline
- Use auto color mode, which would export the image as RGB or Gray automatically
Make sure everything is properly rendered, sometimes the color detection can fails and detect color pages as grayscale (Some DH PDF are like this)
- v1.0.0 (2022-07-04)
- Initial version
- Most information sourced from r/mp Discord
- v1.1.0 (2022-07-07)
- Updated with the recent J-Novel Club DRM-free Manga
- v1.2.0 (2023-01-24)
- Update to Google Play Books ripping information
- Add Square Enix Manga
- Change VIZ
Unknown SourcetoKobo/Overdrive - Adjust some resolution number
- v1.2.1 (2023-01-24)
- J-Novel Club LN Information about price increases
- Some Markdown adjustment
- v1.3.0 (2023-07-11)
- Add the recent Seven Seas and Kodansha resolution
- v1.4.0 (2023-09-22)
- Long overdue, CMX API is dead so it's impossible to rip from them.
- Add Kaiten Books, DENPA, Tentai Books, and One Peace Books
- Modification to some other information.
- v1.5.0 (2023-09-22)
- Added web manga stuff
- v1.5.1 (2023-09-28)
- Some rewording
- v1.6.2 (2023-10-29)
- Add
Alpha Manga - Additional info for Kodansha own storefront
- Some rewording
- Add
- v1.6.3 (2023-12-12)
- Rename some CMX stuff to Kindle (Post-CMX app nuke)
- v1.6.4 (2023-12-15)
- CMX-Kindle app merge info and mini rant
Post-app nukeare actuallyPost-legacy API nukebut who cares, the old CMX app is gone anyway.
- v1.6.5 (2024-07-17)
- Updated Seven Seas part
- v1.6.6 (2024-07-30)
- Updated Kodansha part, and word adjustment on Seven Seas
- v1.7.0 (2025-09-13)
- Add Neon Ichiban and GlobalComix
- v1.7.1 (2026-04-27)
- GCX for 7seas
- Some small adjustment
- v1.8.0 (2026-06-06)
- Add Omoi, Titan, DH, Kana, Kodama, and Ablaze
- Adjusted some other wording
- Rework the ripping part a bit
Really awesome
Thanks!