1. An image processing apparatus comprising: a data-loading unit that loads print data of a print image including one or more pieces of image data; an expansion-target detector that detects image data targeted for expansion, from among the image data included in the print data; an identification unit that identifies a characteristic of an image based on the image data targeted for expansion; an expansion processor that performs expansion processing on the image data targeted for expansion according to the characteristic of the image based on the image data targeted for expansion, thereby generating expansion image data; and an expansion-print-data generator that generates expansion print data based on the expansion image data.