>>61959959A few deciding factors. Anime became popular int the west during the early 2000s with the television block called Toonami. This introduced a large portion of the world to things like DBZ, Sailor Moon, Gundam, etc.
Fast forward to 2011, a lot of the people that grew up with Toonami are now free from school and are adults with a subset of free time. They grew up watching cherry picked anime of classical hits like the aforementioned DBZ and Sailor Moon. To them Anime was an incredible peak of fantastic stories. They decided to watch anime with their free time.
The realization however is that most anime, as the kids would say, is mid at best. It suffers the same problem that all mediums have in that most of it is supremely average. These people that watched seasonal anime in 2011 learned a harsh lesson. Not every anime is Cowboy Bebop. Not every anime is Full Metal Alchemist.
No, most anime is "Stuck in Another World With My Smartphone".