>>15413408> If you go back and look at anime from the 80's, you can see how it was very marketed towards a Western audienceLook at which anime? The anime on the western market? No surprise there. But that's a sampling bias. You are looking at the portion that you find on the western market then and then retroactively conclude that anime must have been marketed to western audiences in general.
I am sorry I continue being such a smartass, but I think the majority of anime at that time never saw the light of day in the west. The few did make it might have either resonated with the west, because of a material that was relatable, or explicitly made with a western audience in mind. But that might have been a risky financial investment, because anime was only just then becoming popular in the mainstream of the west.
https://wikiless.org/wiki/Anime?lang=en 