Otaku Data Viz

ラボ

Lab Notes

A working methodology for making fan-data interfaces: design thinking, vibe coding, exploratory play, and real datasets held in the same frame.

Methodology

01 / Frame

Start With The Fan Question

Every project begins with the thing a fan actually wants to know: who is connected, what came first, which forms belong together, why a franchise feels bigger in one era than another. The first design task is turning that curiosity into a clear exploration prompt.

  • What would someone want to click first?
  • What argument, debate, or memory does the data help organize?
  • What shape does the subject naturally want: network, timeline, treemap, grid, or dashboard?
02 / Gather

Use Real Data, Then Clean It By Hand

The work is grounded in public sources, structured references, release records, relationship notes, stats, and hand-built datasets. The data gets normalized enough to support interaction, but not flattened so much that it loses the weirdness fans care about.

  • Names, categories, dates, arcs, families, and relationships are made explicit.
  • Ambiguity is treated as a design constraint, not an inconvenience.
  • Small curated datasets are allowed when they make the prototype sharper.
03 / Prototype

Vibe Code The Interface

Vibe coding here means building toward the feeling of the world, not just the function of the chart. A Dragon Ball map should not feel like a quarterly sales dashboard. A Pokedex treemap should feel like it belongs in a handheld device from an alternate universe.

  • Prototype fast enough to discover the right interaction.
  • Let visual language borrow from manga panels, game UI, field guides, archives, and console-era ephemera.
  • Keep the interface playful, but make the data legible.
04 / Iterate

Explore Until It Teaches Back

A project is working when it starts answering questions that were not obvious at the start. The final pass is about tightening hierarchy, improving labels, exposing filters, smoothing motion, and making sure the artifact rewards both quick scanning and deep wandering.

  • Test whether the first screen explains the system without over-explaining it.
  • Look for surprising clusters, gaps, outliers, and awkward edge cases.
  • Keep what makes the fandom feel alive.

Future Experiments

Power Systems

Comparative views of rankings, transformations, abilities, and escalation curves across long-running series.

Nintendo Game Timeline

A release-history timeline tracing consoles, handhelds, franchise eras, mascot moments, and the design patterns that shaped generations of play.

Studio Histories

Networks of creators, studios, genres, and era-defining production patterns.

Character Archetypes

Maps of roles, tropes, rivalries, mentors, teams, and evolving character systems.