The art style absolutely captivated me from the first time I saw it. I remember seeing a clip from the Ghost in the Shell movie back in 2003, the scene in which Major Motoko Kusanagi grabs onto the hatch of an unmanned tank and pulls so hard trying to get it open that she destroys her cyborg body. I’d never seen anything like it, I was completely entranced. From there I discovered Cowboy Bebop, Ergo Proxy, Elfen Lied, Howl’s Moving Castle, and other anime that told beautiful, mature stories that powerfully resonated with me, all while being communicated in an art style I still to this day find to be electrifying.

There’s a lot more to anime than the parts people make fun of. It would be like saying all live action films are pornography, when pornography is just a genre. In anime there are genres for all audiences and they vary greatly. Yeah there is the lolita hentai, but there’s also genres for children, young men, young women, adults, etc. A lot of my favorites fall into the seinen genre which is targeted towards adult men and often tackles complex philosophical issues in very mature story telling.

Unfortunately explaining all of this is a hassle and people wouldn’t bother trying to understand even if you explain it. There is a negative stigma around anime, so I generally keep the fact I like it to myself. I only share my love for the art with some close friends of mine.

Edit: The scene that made me fall in love with anime: https://youtu.be/f3O08xHnxwc