Updates Include Multilingual Cover Display, Added Support for Italics and Formatting Aligned With International Publishing Conventions – to Celebrate, a Global Writing Challenge for Creators Worldwide is Now Underway!
TOKYO, JP / ACCESS Newswire / April 27, 2026 / pixiv Inc. has released a major update to the novel posting feature of their illustration, manga, and novel posting platform pixiv.
This update enhances the novel cover feature – the face of a novel – with improved multilingual support, enabling accurate title display across languages, including English. It also introduces features tailored to native writing styles, such as italic formatting, essential for English-language storytelling, and optimized emphasis mark placement to match publishing conventions across different languages.
To celebrate this update, starting today, pixiv is also launching the pixiv Global Flash Fiction Challenge, a writing event for creators worldwide.
New Features for Global Writers
The latest update introduces several improvements aimed to support global writing conventions.
Multilingual Support for the Novel Cover Feature
The novel cover feature, counting over 80 official templates with customizable colors, has been optimized for seven languages, including English.
Key improvements include:
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Improved text rendering: Issues that previously caused certain languages or symbols to appear garbled or blank have been fixed, ensuring titles display exactly as intended.
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Accurate publishing conventions: Brackets (e.g., 「」, 《》) and punctuation used in vertical text now display in the proper orientation following conventions across different writing systems and regions.
More Formatting Options in the Novel Text
To improve both the writing and reading experience for the global community, pixiv has added formatting options that better convey nuance in storytelling.
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Italic support: Italics, essential for expressing thoughts, emphasis, and flashbacks, have been added.
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Localized emphasis marks: In addition to Japanese-style marks placed above characters, emphasis marks are now positioned according to local conventions, such as below characters in horizontal Simplified Chinese text.
Multilingual Support for the pixiv Novel Image Maker
The pixiv Novel Image Maker, a feature launched in March 2024 to turn novel text into shareable images, now supports multiple languages. Creators can now select their favorite passages or scenes from their works and create images with beautifully formatted text, perfect for sharing on social media platforms like X and helping their stories reach a wider audience.
Introducing the pixiv Global Flash Fiction Challenge
To celebrate the pixiv Novels update for global creators, pixiv is holding a special posting challenge open to writers around the world! This project invites participants to create a short story that makes use of pixiv’s novel cover feature.
Event Page: https://www.pixiv.net/novel/contest/pixivflash26
Submission Period: Monday, April 27, to Sunday, May 31, 2026, 11:59 p.m. JST
Eligibility requirements:
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Entries must be set to a language other than Japanese in the novel language settings.
*Please note this is different from your pixiv account language settings. -
Entries must use the novel cover feature and include a title.
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Entries must include the following tag: pixivFlash26
Theme: Secrets
Length Requirements:
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Up to 1,000 words for word-based languages, including English, European languages, Indonesian, Malay, and others.
*The pixiv editor only shows character count. Please check the word count using an external editor before submitting. -
Up to 2,000 characters for character-based languages, including Chinese, Korean, Thai, and others.
Prizes:
A total of 10 winners will be selected by lottery to receive the following:
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Featured promotion on official pixiv social media accounts
Selected works will be showcased on pixiv’s official accounts (X, Weibo, Facebook, etc.) based on the language of submission. -
A curated set of premium Japanese stationery
Includes high-quality writing tools such as the PILOT Kakuno fountain pen and KOKUYO Field Notebook.
pixiv will continue to improve and expand its platform to support creators worldwide – making it a place where works can cross borders and languages, and where diverse cultures come together.
About pixiv Novels https://www.pixiv.net/novel
pixiv Novels is pixiv’s platform for sharing and reading novels across a wide range of genres. To date, over 25 million novels have been posted. The service receives more than 8.8 billion views annually, with a wide variety of writing challenges and contests held by publishers and pixiv alike.
pixiv Novels Editorial Team official X: https://x.com/pixiv_shosetsu
pixiv Novels Editorial Team official FANBOX: https://pixiv-shosetsu.fanbox.cc/
About pixiv? https://www.pixiv.net/
pixiv is a social networking service for creators, focused on fostering new connections through sharing creative work. It launched in September 2007 as a specialized service for posting and exchanging illustrations, manga, and novels, and operates under a philosophy dedicated to “accelerating creativity.” Currently, pixiv has more than 100 million registered accounts.
About pixiv Inc. https://www.pixiv.co.jp
Location: 4-23-5 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Representative director: Yasuhiro Niwa
Business: Internet services
Established: July 25, 2005
Inquiries: info@pixiv.co.jp (Nishidoi, Nishida)
SOURCE: pixiv Inc.
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
