MangaDex Style:Romanization for Japanese Titles

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This is the style guide that MangaDex uses to Romanize Japanese titles on the site. These have been adopted from MangaBaka's Romanization style guide who originally wrote the original text. The goal is to have titles consistently Romanized across MangaDex, by defining a standard that is easy to read and write, while staying true to the linguistic norms.

Base Romanization

Modified Hepburn Romanization

At the base we use modified Hepburn for Romanization, meaning:

は, へ, and を as particles are always Romanized as wa, e, and o.
ん is always Romanized as n or as n' — with an (straight) apostrophe — when the ん is followed by a vowel or y.
ず and づ are both Romanized both as zu as they are phonetically identical.

Examples

私は学校へ友達を迎えに行きます is romanized as Watashi wa Gakkou e Tomodachi o Mukae ni Ikimasu.
婚約 is Romanized as Kon'yaku, and similary 転移 is Romanized as Ten'i.
女 is Romanized as Onna there is no need to apostrophe the double n.

Adjustments made to modified Hepburn

We have made the following adjustments on modified Hepburn for ease of use, clarity and community recognition;

Represent long vowels using full-length spellings (e.g., ou, oo, uu, aa, ee, ii) instead of using macrons (e.g., ō, ū, ā ē, ī).
Represent the sokuon (っ) with a “ch”-syllable as cch instead of the “strict” modified Hepburn tch, however the tch Romanization shall be used in the alternative title.

Regarding loanwords, non-native names and native names

Render Non-assimilated or identifiable loanwords, and non-Japanese names in their established source equivalents whenever identifiable (e.g., スキル → Skill, ダンジョン → Dungeon, クリス → Chris).

Retain clipped slang, or fully lexicalized loanwords in everyday Japanese, where the Japanese phonology or sociocultural meaning is distinct (e.g., ギャル → Gyaru, バイト → Baito, ラブホ → Rabuho).

Always Romanize native Japanese personal and place names using Japanese Romanization rules, even if an English exonym is widely known (e.g., 東京 → Toukyou, 大阪 → Oosaka).

Capitalization

As we are Romanizing titles of Japanese literature, we use the following capitalization style:

Capitalize all nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Keep lowercase all particles, copulas (including their inflections or grammar bridges), and conjunctions, even when they appear at the end of a sentence.

Examples

Ore wa Maou de aru (I am the Demon King).
Akuyaku Reijou de atta node (Because I was a Villainess).

Word spacing, fusions and hyphenation

Keep all words — including particles, copulas (and their inflections), and conjunctives — separate, except for the following specific cases:

Conjunctives and grammar bridges are kept fused and lowercase when functioning as a single unit rather than a sequence of distinct parts (e.g., なのに → nanoni, でも → demo, ですが → desuga).
Morpheme ん (from の) is fused with the following element to prevent a loose letter in the title Romanization (e.g., んです → ndesu, んだけど → ndakedo).
Auxiliaries are always fused to the main verb or adjective—whether via the -te form or the stem (e.g, 見てください → Mitekudasai, 可愛すぎる → Kawaisugiru, してない → Shitenai).
Fossilized adverbs are kept fused as a single unit (e.g., いつの間にか → Itsunomanika, なんとなく → Nantonaku, ひょっとして → Hyottoshite, もしかしたら → Moshikashitara)
Lexicalized compounds and generic groups are fused when they form
- a single dictionary unit (e.g. 女の子 → Onnanoko),
- a profession (e.g, 駄菓子屋 → Dagashiya), or
- describes a group or category. (e.g. 文芸部 → Bungeibu).
Thematic portmanteaus and coined Terms are treated as single, fused lexical units, even if they are not found in standard dictionaries. (e.g., 異世改活 → Iseikaikatsu, 死に戻り → Shinimodori).
Reduplications (echo) are fused into a single word when a word is repeated for emphasis or as onomatopoeia (ムリムリ → Murimuri, ワクワク → Wakuwaku, フワフワ → Fuwafuwa).
Leading honorifics o- and go- are fused without a hyphen and capitalized (お姫 → Ohime, ご主人 → Goshujin).
Hyphenation is used to protect the identity of a proper noun or to mark functional/relational boundaries that are not part of a compound noun’s core identity.

Kudasai (ください) in modern Japanese grammar is a request auxiliary when it is preceeded by a -te form of a verb, and is thus always fused like auxilary verbs (見てください → Mitekudasai).

Semantic Binomial and Determinative Compounds

Semantic binomial compounds may be split and Romanized separately for clarity and consistency.

Similarly, determinative compound nouns are also Romanized separately even when written as a single dictionary word in Japanese.

王侯貴族 → Oukou Kizoku (“kings and nobles”)
国外追放 → Kokugai Tsuihou (“banishment from the country”)
国内旅行 → Kokunai Ryokou (“domestic travel”)

Strongly lexicalized idioms, such as four-character idiomatic compounds (yojijukugo), should remain fused, since they function as a single lexical unit

悠々自適 → Yuuyuujiteki
一石二鳥 → Issekinichou

-te form verbs

Two consecutive -te form verbs are always separated. Any auxiliaries present are fused to the immediately preceding final -te form.

放っておく→ Houtteoku: Is kept fused, as it is a set dictionary expression / compound verb.
放っておいてくれ → Houtte Oitekure: The added auxiliary verb turns oku into its -te form, separating it from houtte. The auxiliary kureru is then fused.
放っておいてくれません → Houtte Oitekuremasen: An extra contracted auxiliary -masen is present, and is directly fused to the preceding auxiliary verb.

Suru

When Suru or its inflected forms (e.g., shita, sareta) attach to a noun, they are Romanized separately and with the suru-form capitalized (e.g., 転生した → Tensei Shita).
Auxiliary elements are directly fused to the suru-form (e.g., 毛嫌いしていた → Kegirai Shiteita, 結婚してください → Kekkon Shitekudasai).
Fixed or lexicalized suru-verbs such as 恋する (Koisuru), 愛する (Aisuru), 画する (Kakusuru) are Romanized fused, since suru is part of the verb stem.

Note that -su verbs (stem) are unrelated to suru; their -shite or -shita forms come from regular conjugation (e.g, 隠して → Kakushite, 話した → Hanashita).

Expanded explanation and examples

Auxiliaries

Thematic portmanteaus and coined terms (zougo)

Hyphenation

Honorifics, titles and household/clan names

Multi-word expressions

Arabic numerals and their counters and modifiers

Native kanji numerals and their counters

Quotations

Particles, copulas and conjunctions

Particles

Expression	Romanization	Function / Meaning
は	wa	topic particle
が	ga	subject particle
を	o	object particle
の	no	Genitive or nominalizer particle
な	na	adjectival(-noun) linking particle or sentence-ending particle
に	ni	particle “to / at / in”
と	to	particle “and / with / that”
で	de	particle “at / in / by means of”
へ	e	particle “toward”
も	mo	particle “also / even”
や	ya	particle “and / among other things”
った	tte	particle “[you/he/she/they] said / even if”
だけ	dake	particle “only”
まで	made	particle “to / until”
から	kara	particle “from / because”
より	yori	particle “x rather than y / x over y”
にて	nite	particle (formal / literary) “at / in / by means of / on the occasion of”
しか	shika	particle “nothing but / except / no more than” always followed by a negation
くらい	kurai	particle “approximately, about, around” Note: if it undergoes rendaku (after a simple noun) it is a hypenated -gurai suffix
ばかり	bakari	particle “only / merely / nothing but / no more than”
ばっか	bakka	particle “only / merely / nothing but / no more than”; colloquial form of ばかり
なんか	nanka	particle “something like... / things like...”; not to be confused with 何か (Nanka)
なんて	nante	particle “things like / such a thing as / like”
など	nado	particle-like “etc” / “and the like”
のか	no ka	nominalizer + question particle structure, always separate, even if some dictionaries list it as a “particle”
とか	toka	conjunctive particle “and so on” / “for example”
けど	kedo	conjunctive particle “but / although”
でも	demo	conjunctive particle “but / however”
し	shi	conjunctive particle “and / not only that / but...”
か	ka	sentence-ending particle to indicate a question or after alternatives in a summary, always separate
ね	ne	sentence-ending particle “right / isn’t it”, always separate
わ	wa	sentence-ending particles for emphasis or tone (feminine), always separate
ぞ / ぜ / さ	zo / ze / sa	sentence-ending particles for emphasis or tone (masculine), always separate
もん	mon	sentence-ending / explanatory particle-like contraction (from もの) indicates reason or excuse, or dissatisfaction (feminine)

Copulas

Expression	Romanization	Function / Meaning
だ	da	plain copula
だった	datta	plain past copula
です	desu	polite copula
でした	deshita	polite past copula
なの	na no	copula + nominalizer structure, always separate, even when used sentence-finally or labeled an “expression”
だろう	darou	plain conjectural of copula だ “probably / I suppose”
でしょう	deshou	polite conjectural of copula です “probably / I suppose”
でしょ	desho	colloquial contraction of deshou “right? / isn’t it”

Particle and copula combinations

Expression	Romanization	Function / Meaning
だと	da to	copula + quotative particle, always separate; marks said / thought / considered content
だに	da ni	copula + particle, always separate, even if even if archaic or when some dictionaries list it as a “particle”

Copula grammar bridges

Expression	Romanization	Function / meaning
である / であります	de aru / de arimasu	Copula Bridge “is / am / are”
であった	de atta	Past Copula Bridge “was / were”
であれ	de are	Imperative/Conditional Bridge “no matter...”
として / とする	to shite / to suru	Capacity Bridge “as a...”
とすると / とすれば	to suru to / to sureba	Conjunction Bridge “if so / then”
にした	ni shita	Decision/Selection Bridge “made into / decided on”
について	ni tsuite	Topic Bridge “about...”
に対して	ni taishite	Relational Bridge “towards/against...”
によって	ni yotte	Causal Bridge “by/due to...”
のこと (に / を)	no koto (ni / o)	Structural Bridge (concerning / regarding)
のはず (の)	no hazu (no)	Modal Bridge (expectation) / “should be”
のわけ (は)	no wake (wa)	Structural Bridge (reason) / “the case is”
のある / のない	no aru / no nai	Existence Bridge “with / without / that has”

These are only some examples, be aware of any possible inflections of aru like “de arou” and suru like “shimashita”!
Any auxiliary that follows a bridge "sticks" to the vocal part (e.g., “to shitekuru”)

As we always Romanize da to as two separate particles, proper chaining can occur.

Expression	Romanization	Function / meaning
だとしても	da to shite mo	Concessive Bridge ("even if it is...")
だとしたら	da to shitara	Conditional Bridge ("if it were...")
だとしてもらう	da to shitemorau	Benefactive Chain ("have them be...")

Spacing and capitalization with grammar bridges

While our goal is consistent visual hierarchy, we prioritize structural accuracy over capitalization perfection.

Structural accuracy: The most important factor is maintaining correct spacing and keeping base particles lowercase in these grammar bridges.

Capitalization perfection: If a volunteer accidentally capitalizes the verbal element of a bridge this is not considered a hard error, as the visual spacing is preserved.

Critical: Correct Spacing and particles lower case.

Use “to shite”, not “Toshite”
Use “de aru”, not “Dearu”
Use “you na node”, not “you nanode”

Preferred: Lowercase bridge-verbs or formal nouns

Use “to shite”, not “to Shite”
Use “de aru”, not “de Aru”
Use “you na node”, not “You na node”

As long as the bridge remains split and the particle is lowercase, the metadata remains clean and searchable. We value your time — don't stress the small stuff!

Example: 双子の姉が神子として引き取られて、私は捨てられたけど多分私が神子である。→ Futago no Ane ga Miko to shite Hikitorarete, Watashi wa Suterareta kedo Tabun Watashi ga Miko de aru.

Exception: ja / de wa + emphasis hooks

In case where ja (じゃ) or de wa (では) is followed by a negative adjective (e.g., “Nai”, “Nakatta”, “Nakunaru”) or a strong adjectival noun (e.g., “Dame”), the element following the copula is always capitalized.

These words act as a “hook” for the negation or emphasis of the title. Keeping them lowercase by the base bridge rule would cause the “hook” to fizzle out in a “lowercase soup”, especially in long titles.

Example: じゃなくなるとしても → ja Nakunaru to shite mo

Example: 聖女じゃないから → Seijo ja Nai kara

な + ん + copula sequences

The な + ん + copula sequence is treated as a single grammatical bridge:

The morpheme ん (from の) fuses directly with the following copula or conjunctive as per the core style (e.g., んです → ndesu).
The initial な is then fused to create a single lowercase unit which reflects the function of a fixed explanatory phrase (“it is that…” / “the reason is…”).

Ensure that it nan comes from the particles な + の, and not from 何 (“What”) as it would be otherwise separated and capitalized (e.g., 何ですか → Nan desu ka as for “What is it?”).