MangaToshokan » Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you wanted to know about MangaToshokan and more!
Oh great just what the internet needs, another online reader.
Not exactly. MangaToshokan is an online reader made by scanlators for scanlators. It is the product of our attempt to improve on aspects of other online readers that we disliked. We were tired of seeing the quality sucked out of our releases by online readers compressing our work so they could save money on storage and bandwidth. That's why we created the first online reader that hosts uncompressed manga: to build the highest quality collection of manga on the internet! Because of our strict no-compression policy, many scanlators that traditionally did not allow online readers to host their releases have opened up to MangaToshokan. Think of us as the first online reader that doesn't suck. :)
Why should I use MangaToshokan over another online reader?
We have worked very hard to develop many features that set MangaToshokan apart.
Toshokan is Japanese for library, so in essence, we are a manga library minus the late fees and returns.
Wait a second... you claim to have uncompressed manga, but I see some of the pages are jpgs and that's a compressed format!
We don't mean that you won't find compressed manga on the site, just that we will not compress the manga you upload. If the scanlators have already compressed the images in their releases, then it will also be compressed on our site. Plus, I think you could agree that titling the site "Read Free Manga that Hasn't Been Re-compressed After You Upload It Online" would be just a bit unwieldy.
How do I use bookmarks?
Bookmarks are an easy way for you to save your place in the middle of a series. To set a bookmark, simply scroll down to the bottom of the reader page and select an open spot then click "Save." You can return to a saved place by either selecting it from the pulldown menu and clicking "Goto" clicking on the corresponding link on the front page under "My Bookmarks." To remove a bookmark, go to the front page and click the
next to the bookmark you want to remove. If you have used up all of your bookmarks, or want to update an existing bookmark, simply select the bookmark you want to overwrite from the bookmark pulldown menu at the bottom of the reader and click "Save." You are allowed to have up to ten bookmarks at one time.
What does favoriting a series do?
Favoriting helps you keep up for the manga you read. To favorite a series, go to the series page and click on the
. When a series has been added to your favorites, the icon should look like this 
. All of your favorited series will appear on the front page under "My Favorites" and will tell you what the latest chapter released for each one is. In addition, any releases for your favorited series will have a heart next to them in the release tracker on the front page.
Why are some releases bold?
On the front page release tracker, releases that are bold indicate that a release is popular. On the manga directory page, series in bold are the top ten most popular series or series that have just been added.
What are MT Points?
MT Points are a composite measure of how much you have contributed to the site. It is based on a combination of the number of posts, number of uploads, and the number of views your uploads receive. Uploads are worth 20 points, posts are worth 1.5 points, adding a chapter title is worth 5 points (for a total of 25 if you are uploading a chapter) and every 50 views a release you have uploaded receives earns you 5 points. Scores are updated about once per day, so don't worry if your score doesn't reflect a contribution you just made.
What aspects of the reader can I customize?
A few things can be changed to match your taste. First, the banner can be hidden when reading manga to give the reader a more minimalistic look and reduce the amount of scrolling needed to read. Second, the mature warning can be permanently hidden for those of you that are not bothered by possibly offensive content. Lastly, you can override the automatic resizing of images to view the full size pages. This is not recommended unless you have a high resolution monitor. All of these setting can be changed in the user control panel.
Why should I post my scanlations to MangaToshokan?
MangaToshokan doesn't compress your uploads, so you won't have to see your hard work marred by jpeg artifacts. Uploading to MangaToshokan allows you to increase your readership and attract more traffic to your site by tapping into the diverse userbase of our site. MangaToshokan makes a great alternative to hosting your releases on public file hosting websites with long wait times such as RapidShare and MegaUpload. MangaToshokan doesn't make a half-baked effort to give credit to scanlators like other online readers. Each group page links back to the scanlator's website and irc channel and you can link back to your own release post for each chapter so that readers have the opportunity to give thanks for your hard work.
Why should I upload manga to the reader? (As someone who is not a scanlator)
To share your favorite manga with other people from around the world and allow them to explore new manga that they have never heard of before.
Can I upload doujinshi or hentai?
Dounjinshi and hentai are not allowed on MangaToshokan, however you can upload them to our sister site, DoujinToshokan.
I'm a scanlator whose group has made lots of releases. Is there a faster way for me to get all of our group's manga on the site than uploading each on individually?
Yes! If you have lots of releases to add, just send us a message and we'll work with you to get all of your manga up in a jiffy!
Do all of my uploads have to be moderated?
No. If you are a scanlator or an uploader who has made regular contributions to the reader, you can apply to be promoted and bypass the approval system. More details can be found here.
Do you accept donations?
No, MangaToshokan is completely supported by the advertisements on the site. Instead, please support the mangaka and the licensors by purchasing the official volumes when they are available so we can continue to enjoy their manga.
Everything you wanted to know about MangaToshokan and more!
Oh great just what the internet needs, another online reader.
Not exactly. MangaToshokan is an online reader made by scanlators for scanlators. It is the product of our attempt to improve on aspects of other online readers that we disliked. We were tired of seeing the quality sucked out of our releases by online readers compressing our work so they could save money on storage and bandwidth. That's why we created the first online reader that hosts uncompressed manga: to build the highest quality collection of manga on the internet! Because of our strict no-compression policy, many scanlators that traditionally did not allow online readers to host their releases have opened up to MangaToshokan. Think of us as the first online reader that doesn't suck. :)
Why should I use MangaToshokan over another online reader?
We have worked very hard to develop many features that set MangaToshokan apart.
- Quality Manga The quality of the manga in our reader is unaparalleled. We will never recompress your uploads so you don't have to deal with unsightly jpeg artifacts. Our reader allows you to enjoy manga in the full quality the mangaka and scanlators intended. Lots of online readers claim to have "high quality" manga but just compare the quality of our manga to any other site's and you'll see the difference!
- Fast Updates Because many of our releases are uploaded by the scanlators themselves, you can start reading them online here first!
- Bookmarks Bookmarks are an easy way to save your spot in a series. This is explained in more detail below.
- Favorites A convenient way to keep track of new releases from series you are reading. This is also explained in more detail below.
- Multiple Versions Unlike other readers, we permit multiple versions of one chapter to be uploaded. This allows for higher quality groups to add their scanlations even if a speed scan has already been uploaded.
- Image prefetching Tired of waiting for the next page to load? Well wait no more! MangaToshokan automatically prefetches the next images for you so when you're ready for the next page, it loads instantly!
- Size toggling Since we don't recompress or resize your uploads, this allows readers to view the full size image, pixel for pixel how you uploaded it. But, if you have a low resolution monitor, you can set the images to be automatically resized to fit your screen.
- Automated delayed add Scanlators: frustrated with sites that constantly break your waiting time policies? Uploaders: find it hard to remember to upload chapters that have waiting times? Well let MangaToshokan solve those problems for you! MangaToshokan has a unique automated delayed add system. Just set the amount of waiting time you require before the chapter can be posted, upload the chapter, then forget about it! When the specified waiting time has passed, MangaToshokan will automatically post the release to the front page.
- Web uploads Have a slow connection but still want to upload manga? Use the server to server uploading feature of MangaToshokan. Simply paste a direct download link where it says to on the upload page, and MangaToshokan will communicate directly with the direct download server, and bypass your slow connection!
- Minimal advertisements We hate ads as much as you do. Unfortunately, they are a necessary evil in order to keep the site running. MangaToshokan will never display any popups or annoying audio/flashing ads. It is our goal to keep the ads as unobtrusive and minimal as possible.
Toshokan is Japanese for library, so in essence, we are a manga library minus the late fees and returns.
Wait a second... you claim to have uncompressed manga, but I see some of the pages are jpgs and that's a compressed format!
We don't mean that you won't find compressed manga on the site, just that we will not compress the manga you upload. If the scanlators have already compressed the images in their releases, then it will also be compressed on our site. Plus, I think you could agree that titling the site "Read Free Manga that Hasn't Been Re-compressed After You Upload It Online" would be just a bit unwieldy.
How do I use bookmarks?
Bookmarks are an easy way for you to save your place in the middle of a series. To set a bookmark, simply scroll down to the bottom of the reader page and select an open spot then click "Save." You can return to a saved place by either selecting it from the pulldown menu and clicking "Goto" clicking on the corresponding link on the front page under "My Bookmarks." To remove a bookmark, go to the front page and click the
next to the bookmark you want to remove. If you have used up all of your bookmarks, or want to update an existing bookmark, simply select the bookmark you want to overwrite from the bookmark pulldown menu at the bottom of the reader and click "Save." You are allowed to have up to ten bookmarks at one time.
What does favoriting a series do?
Favoriting helps you keep up for the manga you read. To favorite a series, go to the series page and click on the
. When a series has been added to your favorites, the icon should look like this . All of your favorited series will appear on the front page under "My Favorites" and will tell you what the latest chapter released for each one is. In addition, any releases for your favorited series will have a heart next to them in the release tracker on the front page.
Why are some releases bold?
On the front page release tracker, releases that are bold indicate that a release is popular. On the manga directory page, series in bold are the top ten most popular series or series that have just been added.
What are MT Points?
MT Points are a composite measure of how much you have contributed to the site. It is based on a combination of the number of posts, number of uploads, and the number of views your uploads receive. Uploads are worth 20 points, posts are worth 1.5 points, adding a chapter title is worth 5 points (for a total of 25 if you are uploading a chapter) and every 50 views a release you have uploaded receives earns you 5 points. Scores are updated about once per day, so don't worry if your score doesn't reflect a contribution you just made.
What aspects of the reader can I customize?
A few things can be changed to match your taste. First, the banner can be hidden when reading manga to give the reader a more minimalistic look and reduce the amount of scrolling needed to read. Second, the mature warning can be permanently hidden for those of you that are not bothered by possibly offensive content. Lastly, you can override the automatic resizing of images to view the full size pages. This is not recommended unless you have a high resolution monitor. All of these setting can be changed in the user control panel.
Why should I post my scanlations to MangaToshokan?
MangaToshokan doesn't compress your uploads, so you won't have to see your hard work marred by jpeg artifacts. Uploading to MangaToshokan allows you to increase your readership and attract more traffic to your site by tapping into the diverse userbase of our site. MangaToshokan makes a great alternative to hosting your releases on public file hosting websites with long wait times such as RapidShare and MegaUpload. MangaToshokan doesn't make a half-baked effort to give credit to scanlators like other online readers. Each group page links back to the scanlator's website and irc channel and you can link back to your own release post for each chapter so that readers have the opportunity to give thanks for your hard work.
Why should I upload manga to the reader? (As someone who is not a scanlator)
To share your favorite manga with other people from around the world and allow them to explore new manga that they have never heard of before.
Can I upload doujinshi or hentai?
Dounjinshi and hentai are not allowed on MangaToshokan, however you can upload them to our sister site, DoujinToshokan.
I'm a scanlator whose group has made lots of releases. Is there a faster way for me to get all of our group's manga on the site than uploading each on individually?
Yes! If you have lots of releases to add, just send us a message and we'll work with you to get all of your manga up in a jiffy!
Do all of my uploads have to be moderated?
No. If you are a scanlator or an uploader who has made regular contributions to the reader, you can apply to be promoted and bypass the approval system. More details can be found here.
Do you accept donations?
No, MangaToshokan is completely supported by the advertisements on the site. Instead, please support the mangaka and the licensors by purchasing the official volumes when they are available so we can continue to enjoy their manga.
