Shin Saikou Your library, in step.

Read manga, webtoons and comics on Android, with a library that follows you from phone to tablet and downloads that survive anything.

Download for Android See what it does

Free and open source Android 8.0 and later No account needed

An entry's page with its cover, author, description, genres and chapters
Saikou's Library tab: a grid of covers with unread and download counts
The long-strip reader in the middle of a webtoon chapter

Measured, not claimed

Fast where libraries get big.

Timed against Mihon v0.21.0 with the same 20,124-entry library on the same Android emulator. Every number is below, including the one Saikou loses.

  • 6.2 times faster library update 41.5 s against 255.3 s, for 2,000 entries across 20 sources
  • 6.9 times faster Statistics screen 0.20 s against 1.38 s
  • 1.4 times faster cold start 1.24 s against 1.78 s, straight to the library
  • 87 MB backup, restored in one go 139.3 s in Saikou. Mihon runs out of memory before it starts.

Features

Built for the parts that usually break.

01 · Sync

Every device, one library.

Progress, bookmarks, categories and history merge field by field through your own Google Drive app folder or a WebDAV server you run. Nothing is deleted by absence, and there is no hosted service in the middle.

  • Google Drive app folder or your own WebDAV
  • Merges field by field, never by overwrite
  • A safety backup before a device's first sync
How sync works
The Library on one device, in the light theme
The same library on a second device, in the dark theme
02 · Reader

Smooth on long strips.

Paged and vertical modes, tall pages split before they reach the screen, a preload that works to a memory budget, and a pure black theme. Each title remembers its own mode.

  • Paged, or one long vertical strip
  • Tall pages split before they reach the screen
  • Preload that works to a memory budget
Inside the reader
The reader with its controls open
The long-strip reader in the middle of a webtoon chapter
03 · Downloads

Downloads that survive.

The queue lives in the database and returns after a force-stop or reboot. Interrupted images resume mid-file. Chapters stay readable after they disappear from the website they came from, and each folder carries its cover and a ComicInfo.xml.

  • The queue comes back after a reboot
  • Interrupted images resume mid-file
  • A cover and ComicInfo.xml in every folder
About downloads
An entry's page with cover, author, status, description, genres and chapters

And the rest

Every panel in its place.

Make it yours.

Saikou's own theme and named themes such as Catppuccin, light or dark, pure black for OLED screens, and two-pane layouts on tablets.

The Appearance settings: theme picker, light and dark, pure black and two-pane layout

No account.No ads.No analytics.

There is no server behind Saikou and no telemetry in it. Your data stays on your device unless you turn on sync to storage you own.

Read the privacy policy

Bring your library.

Coming from a similar reader? Your .tachibk backup imports losslessly, with categories, progress, history and reader settings, and exports the same way.

Track what you read.

Link a title to MyAnimeList or AniList, and each chapter you finish updates your list.

Tracking

A library that keeps up.

Categories, badges, filters and query search. Updates and History tabs, cancellable library updates with a per-title error list, and two-pane layouts on tablets.

The library
The History tab with Resume buttons

Ships with nothing installed.

Saikou bundles no content and no sources. It supports third-party extensions you choose to install, and fetches pages with your device as a browser would.

Open source.

The code is on GitHub under the Apache License 2.0, ready for other people to build on.

ShinSaikou/saikou

The app

Every screen, as it ships.

Screenshots of Saikou 0.0.1 on Android, with popular titles from an extension installed for the purpose. Covers, pages, titles and descriptions are blurred in these screenshots; every series belongs to its creators and publishers.

How it compares

Measured, not claimed.

The same 20,124-entry library and the same steps, timed on the same Android emulator: Saikou 0.0.1 against Mihon v0.21.0, the reader most people come from. Lower is better everywhere, and the one place Saikou loses, storage, stays in.

Saikou 0.0.1 compared with Mihon v0.21.0 Library update (2,000 entries across 20 sources): Saikou 0.0.1 41.5 s, Mihon v0.21.0 255.3 s. Cold start to library (20,124 entries): Saikou 0.0.1 1.24 s, Mihon v0.21.0 1.78 s. Statistics screen (20,124 entries): Saikou 0.0.1 0.20 s, Mihon v0.21.0 1.38 s. Restore one backup (87 MB file, 20,124 entries): Saikou 0.0.1 139.3 s, Mihon v0.21.0 Runs out of memory before it starts. Memory with the library open (PSS, 20,124 entries): Saikou 0.0.1 141 MB, Mihon v0.21.0 151 MB. Storage after the restore (20,124 entries): Saikou 0.0.1 1,461 MB, Mihon v0.21.0 987 MB. Lower is better in every panel. Mihon restored the eleven smaller backups in 86.5 s in total; Saikou was not timed on them. Storage was measured before schema 4 dropped unused chapter indexes, about 300 MB at this size. Mihon v0.20.4 took 246.0 s on the same library update bench. Mihon releases after v0.21.0 were not measured. Saikou 0.0.1 Mihon v0.21.0 Library update 2,000 entries across 20 sources Saikou Saikou 0.0.1: 41.5 s 41.5 s Mihon Mihon v0.21.0: 255.3 s 255.3 s Cold start to library 20,124 entries Saikou Saikou 0.0.1: 1.24 s 1.24 s Mihon Mihon v0.21.0: 1.78 s 1.78 s Statistics screen 20,124 entries Saikou Saikou 0.0.1: 0.20 s 0.20 s Mihon Mihon v0.21.0: 1.38 s 1.38 s Restore one backup 87 MB file, 20,124 entries Saikou Saikou 0.0.1: 139.3 s 139.3 s Mihon Runs out of memory before it starts Memory with the library open PSS, 20,124 entries Saikou Saikou 0.0.1: 141 MB 141 MB Mihon Mihon v0.21.0: 151 MB 151 MB Storage after the restore 20,124 entries Saikou Saikou 0.0.1: 1,461 MB 1,461 MB Mihon Mihon v0.21.0: 987 MB 987 MB Lower is better in every panel. Mihon restored the eleven smaller backups in 86.5 s in total; Saikou was not timed on them. Storage was measured before schema 4 dropped unused chapter indexes, about 300 MB at this size. Mihon v0.20.4 took 246.0 s on the same library update bench. Mihon releases after v0.21.0 were not measured. Measured 2026-10-14. Android emulator, Pixel 9 profile (API 36, 4 GB), network off. Saikou 0.0.1 release build against the official Mihon v0.21.0 APK. Library: 20,124 entries and about 3.6 million chapters from one 87 MB backup; Saikou restored that file, Mihon (which runs out of memory on it) restored the same data split into eleven backups. Memory and storage were measured after each app's restore. One sample per scenario, except the library update: two runs each, against a local test server that answers in 0.4 to 0.8 s and allows 5 requests per second per source.

Next to other readers

FeatureSaikouMihonKomikkuTachiyomiSYMangayomiAidoku
PlatformsAndroidAndroidAndroidAndroidAndroid, iOS, Windows, macOS, LinuxiOS, iPadOS, macOS
Reads Tachiyomi extensionsYes, lib 1.4 and 1.6YesYesYesYes, one of several enginesNo, its own sources
Sync between devicesBuilt in: Google Drive or WebDAVNoGoogle Drive, WebDAV or a SyncYomi serverGoogle Drive or a SyncYomi serverA self-hosted sync serveriCloud
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0Apache-2.0Apache-2.0Apache-2.0GPL-3.0
Latest release0.1.0, 2026-11-01v0.21.3, 2026-10-25v1.14.1, 2026-07-171.13.2, 2026-07-13v0.9.9, 2026-10-12v0.9-4, 2026-10-16

Features as each project documents them (checked 2026-09-10); licenses and releases read from each project's GitHub repository on 2026-10-30.

Optional sync with Google Drive.

Saikou can keep your devices in step by storing a copy of your library in your own Google Drive, inside the hidden app data folder that only Saikou can see. It asks Google for a single permission, drive.appdata, which gives it no access to any other file in your Drive. The data goes from your device to your Drive and nowhere else.

You can end that access at any time from your Google Account's third-party connections page. The privacy policy lists exactly what sync carries.

Available now

Get Saikou.

Free and open source, for Android 8.0 and later. Every release is published on GitHub, with notes. If you already keep a library in a similar reader, your backup comes with you.

Download for Android Getting started
Latest releaseSaikou v0.1.0 All releases Source code Discord