Glossary
Right-to-left reading
Right-to-left reading is the direction Japanese manga is read in: pages turn from right to left, and panels and bubbles on each page are read from the top right to the bottom left. English editions often keep this order, while manhwa and most manhua read from left to right.
How a right-to-left page is read
Start at the top right of the page. Read the panels in that row from right to left, then move down to the next row and start again on the right. Inside a panel, the bubble on the right is read first. A volume opens on what an English reader would call the back cover.
Why manga reads this way
Japanese is traditionally written in vertical columns that run from right to left, and books are bound to match. Manga follows the same direction, so the art, the panel flow and the lettering all lead the eye from right to left.
Flipped or unflipped
Early English editions often mirrored the pages so they read left to right, which also flipped the art: right-handed characters became left-handed. Today most publishers keep the original direction, which readers call unflipped, and add a short guide page at the back of the book.
Other comics
- Manhwa and webtoons read from left to right, and webtoons scroll from top to bottom.
- Most current manhua read from left to right.
- Western comics read from left to right.
- Comics in Arabic are read from right to left, like the script.
How RuneManga handles it
You do not need to change anything. Send page one first, in the order the pages were published. Each bubble is translated in place, so the page keeps its own reading order, and the translation is set horizontally inside the same bubble.
Common problems and fixes
- Pages come out in the wrong order: name your files with leading zeros (001, 002) so they sort correctly.
- A two-page spread is cut in half: send the halves in order, right page first for manga, or as one image if it stays under 20 MB.
Do I need to reverse the page order for right-to-left manga?
No. Send page one first. RuneManga translates each page in place and keeps your order.
Is manhwa read right to left?
No. Manhwa reads from left to right, like English.