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

Expanded explanation and examples

Particles, copulas and conjunctions

Copulas

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 as da to 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...")

"Bridge" capitalization (priority of correctness)

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.

1. Critical: Correct Spacing and particles lower case (e.g., “to shite” vs “Toshite”, “de aru” vs “Dearu”, “you na node” vs “you nanode”).
2. Preferred: Lowercase Bridge-Verbs or Formal Nouns (e.g., “to shite” vs “to Shite”, “de aru” vs “de Aru”, “you na node” vs “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:

1. The morpheme ん (from の) fuses directly with the following copula or conjunctive as per the core style (e.g., んです → ndesu).
2. 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 capitialized (e.g, 何ですか → Nan desu ka as for “What is it?”).

Examples

• そうなんです → sou nandesu
• そうなんだ → sou nanda