1. A character recognition apparatus comprising a processor specifically configured to function as: an extracting unit that extracts a numerical value reading region in which a numerical value, which is a character string of a numeral, is read from an image that is a character recognition target; a character recognizing unit that performs character recognition on the extracted numerical value reading region and thereby obtains, based on the extracted numerical value reading region, a plurality of recognition candidates for the numerical value; and a selecting unit that compares the numerical values of the plurality of recognition candidates to a numerical value range set for the numerical value reading region and selects, from the plurality of recognition candidates, a plurality of potential candidates that are within the set numerical value range.