Reader Features
Kototoro is designed as an all-in-one Android reader instead of a single-purpose manga app. This page summarizes the core user-facing capabilities and explains where each one fits.
Core Product Areas
Manga, Novels, and Video in One App
Kototoro handles three content types in one place:
- Manga
- Novels
- Video
This keeps history, favorites, source access, and sync in one app instead of splitting the workflow across multiple readers.
Local OCR + Translation
Kototoro includes local OCR + translation directly inside the reader. This is one of the most distinctive parts of the project because it keeps the workflow close to the page instead of sending users to external desktop tools.
Typical workflow:
- Detect text from the page
- Recognize it with the configured OCR pipeline
- Translate locally or through an API
- Render the translated result back into the reading view
Read more: Automatic Translation
Video Playback
Kototoro includes a built-in video player with:
- Online playback with source-side episode browsing
- Resolution / stream selection when available
- Subtitle and audio track selection — choose embedded or external subtitle tracks, switch audio languages
- DLNA casting — discover and cast to DLNA-compatible devices on the local network via SSDP
- Anime4K super-resolution — real-time video upscaling with configurable Anime4K filter presets
- Seek gesture feedback with proportional seeking and synchronized progress bar
- Screen rotation and standard playback controls
Tracking & Discovery
Kototoro integrates with multiple tracking sites for discovering new content and tracking reading/watching progress:
| Site | Discovery | Tracking |
|---|---|---|
| MyAnimeList (MAL) | ✅ Seasonal anime, rankings | ✅ |
| Kitsu | ✅ Trending, categories | ✅ |
| AniList | ✅ Trending, popular | ✅ |
| Bangumi | ✅ | ✅ |
| Shikimori | ✅ | ✅ |
| MangaUpdates | ✅ | ✅ |
Discovery pages show rich data including genres, scores, synopses, and cover images in a multi-carousel UI.
Sync and Portability
Kototoro uses WebDAV for multi-device backup and synchronization. This is intended for users who want device-independent sync without relying on a closed cloud service.
Read more: WebDAV Sync
Broad Source Integration
Kototoro supports several source ecosystems:
- Built-in sources (native Kototoro parsers + Kotatsu-Redo parser library)
- Mihon manga extensions
- Aniyomi video / anime extensions
- IReader novel extensions
- Legado JSON reading sources
- TVBox JSON video sources
This lets users keep broader catalogs in one app without being locked to one source format.
Read more: Source Integrations
By Content Type
Manga Reading
Kototoro includes a full manga workflow with:
- Source browsing with multi-select saved filters
- Library and favorites management
- Chapter reading
- Downloads for offline use
- Reader customization and layout options
Novel Reading
Kototoro supports novel-oriented workflows including:
- Online novel sources (built-in, Legado, IReader extensions)
- Local novel reading
- Illustrated chapter handling
- EPUB-related flows where supported by the source and pipeline
Video Consumption
Kototoro supports video source browsing and playback inside the same app, including:
- Aniyomi extension-based and TVBox JSON-based video sources
- DLNA casting to network devices
- Subtitle and audio track selection
- Anime4K super-resolution filters