My reasons for getting into anime are pretty much a collection of Masamuneehs' and Assertn's. But I also have to say that not all anime is mature. Not by a longshot. But it was the well animated, long running, or mature series that garnered my interest in manga/anime.

I'd say anime has a big enough fan-base to call it a subculture. I guess you could say the whole genre has sort of a cult following. A lot of anime fans have the usual geeky quirks that most fanboys/girls of anything have, like having their own lingo to go along with their fandom (in this case, using Japanese terms - like Otaku). Anime has also given its fans a certain familiarity with Japanese culture. I'm curious, was anyone else attracted to anime because of the cultural aspect?

Something related to this that bugs me. Quite a few anime fans seem to be Japanophiles. These people come either in the form of Seiyuu praising, subtitle loving, dub-bashing people or those who refuse to acknowledge any other type of animation or comics other than their praised anime. Seriously, it bothers me sometimes when people watch crap shows just because it's anime, or because it's Japanese and bash anything else because it's "Stoopid American crap". Though I must admit, I can be guilty of this too.