Manga Reader For Mac

With the solid Anime and Manga universes continuously growing, the need for scan reading software arises as well, especially for hardcore fans who cannot wait for the studios to put up another season of their favorite show (which may take years of development).

That's when they roll up their sleeves and start reading the author's original work, in physical or alternatively digital format. This is what MangaReader's for. Before you consider getting it, make sure you have the Java prerequisites (in this case, we installed Java SE Development Kit 8 for Mac OS X.)

You won't find it in the applications cluster or dropdown menu, as it doesn't require an installation. That also means that there are no registry files from it stored in your system. In a matter of fact, there's also a Windows counterpart with the exact same functionality.

The straightforward and minimalistic application has options on the top left bar, “File” and “View”, to modify the source directory and picture orientation, which is a choice of either width or length wise. That allows you to alternate between stretching the scans fullscreen (scrolling for what's left) or with the whole picture arranged in the center. From the same menu branch you can also select the page which you want to jump to.

In contrast with navigating on the “MangaReader” website, the arrow keys are not assigned to perform the customary back and forward transitions, instead being replaced by a small menu containing “next “ and “previous”, which is accessed by right clicking on the image. This can be considered a redundant and annoying additional step.

Regarding supported formats, it works with .jpeg and .jpg which are basically one and the same. Multiple instances of the application can be initialized for multi-taskers, each with its own root directory to read from.

It's good, but the basic functionality is a bit awkward, having to perform twice as many actions, or clicks to slide a page, in contrast to the website, or other Manga reading utilities. Other than that, it's above reproach and gets the job done.