README.md

MAL Map

Cluster and visualize relationships between anime on MyAnimeList.

Description

MAL Map is a web application that visualizes anime relationships on MyAnimeList and AniList. Edges are extracted from the recomendations of users.

Clustering

The graph is clustered with multi-level modularity clustering. Some clusters are merged to produce a simpler visualization.

Layout

The map layout is generated by a particle force simulation. At first all of the nodes are represented by a single particle. The simulation is then run for a number of iterations. Each iteration all particles are split into new particles, one for each sub-cluster. Appropriate forces are applied between particles to attract related clusters together. This process results in a visually pleasing layout. The layout process can be seen live here.

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome!

Building

MAL Map is two projects: a backend node app for collecting data and clustering, and a svelte frontend client. The frontend depends on some files in the backend and its outputs.

Building the backend

1. Open the /data-collection directory and run npm ci to install all dependencies.
2. Python3 is used for clustering. Install networkx and cdlib with pip install -r requirements.txt.
3. Run npm run reset to build and run the whole data pipeline. This will pull all data from MAL/Anilist and create various txt and json files for the frontend. Use npm run layout to skip the data collection step.

Building the frontend

1. Open the /svelte directory and run npm ci to install all dependencies.
2. Run npm run dev to start a localhost server with live reloading. http://localhost:8080/#animate=true will show a live view of the layout.

Acknowledgements

Clustering

• https://cdlib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

Layout

• d3-force
• d3-force-reuse

Frontend

• PIXI.js
• PIXI Viewport
• Svelte

Data

• MyAnimeList API
• AniList API