In defense of anime, I just want to say that even though most anime may not have a consistent plot(Naruto and Bleach are major offenders of this even though I still enjoy them), most american animated shows don't even have a plot to begin with. Most of the time, a series is either about a group of dysfunctional friends, one being the straight man, another being the jerk, another being a harebrained idiot or the other who's just there to fill up space. Or about a dysfunctional family(Family Guy, Simpsons, etc). As far as kids shows in America go, most of them are about kids or animals doing things kids or animals don't normally do. I don't hate American animation but I'm not going to place it on a pedestal and pretend like it's the best form of animation there is. American animation has just as much flaws as anime has. Most people don't even notice because they're more used to seeing an American animated series as oppsed to one from Japan.
I like anime (well actually manga because I myself am starting to get a little tired with anime), because of the stories and the art. Anime has a wide range of stories, and alot of them are pretty well told. I like anime because it got me into writing and drawing. If it weren't for watching series like One Piece or Fullmetal Alchemist, I probably wouldn't even be where I am today. And yes, anime styles may be very easy to draw but is that really so bad? Just because a drawing isn't ridiculously compicated or ridiculously detailed doesn't mean it's not good.
Look, anime must have done something right. I've showed my drawings to many of my past art teachers, all of which praised my work(and helped me to improve it), I drew comics(ANIME style comics) for my high school's magazine from '07 to '09 which again recieved postitive reception from among my friends and teachers. And to top that off, on Deviantart, I've been asked by three different clubs to join. One which was for art, the others being for writing. And yes, my writing was also inspired by the various manga I've read.
