Anime and Manga have been rising in popularity for years. But I never managed to get it.
I tried to watch all the mainstream popular stuff like Dragon Ball Z, Gundam, Naruto, Inuyasha, Naruto, and recently I seen a reference to Attack on Titan and checked that out too.
But I just don't get it. Very often they are based on solid story backdrops, but Jesus the exposition is horrendous. Full of clitches, unamusing humor etc.
Then you have all the contemplation, the blablabla. Most of the time its bloody horrible. The action sequences are terrible. The characters are all half twits. It's like the Comic book cliche of the villain going on 4 hour explanations on how they will cut the hero in two using a complicated, prototype laser, while he is tied to a table, instead of just freaking shooting him in face. Anime feels the same but the protagonists do the same.
How is it enjoyable? They are terrible.
I don't say I never seen Anime that I would have liked. There are things like Vampire Hunter D, Hellsing, Blue Gender (this suffered from all the above, but the backdrop was too good) Ghost in a Shell, Jin-Roh, or the brilliant Cowboy Bepop.
These also use a lot of character exposition but they make sense and don't interupt the flow of the action. Plus they try to stay away from stupid cliches.
Now I might be missing something here.
**EDIT**
I'll reformulate the question, as I have put it badly before.
Why is there such a strong following of the "Kiddie" category Anime? Many of my friends ages 25+ (some in their mid and late 30's) spend hours upon hours watching and rewatching DBZ or Gundam or stuff like that, and debating it, in debth.
(Yeah I work and hang out in a somewhat geeky enviroment.)