I think it helps that Japanese is just much more pleasant to listen to than English. (And no, I don't mean in the way that "foreign accents are cool", I just mean that Japanese is pleasant sounding compared to some obnoxious languages like French.) Not sure, but I know that's one reason I tend to listen to Japanese music over English (another being that if the lyrics are horrible, which they almost invariably are in English music I'm exposed to, I won't have to understand them. )

i tend away from reality and bland repetativeness which is why i prefer certain anime over things like *shudder* pokémon.

But thats not to say i restrict myself only to anime. I still have much love for Firefly :'(, Dead Like Me (hehehe), Buffy and Angel (There are quite a few good eps, such as Hush), hrm Stargate is good as was Sliders.

The problem i find is that you'll get a series which has a handfull of episodes that really stand out but then you may face another handfull of horrid shows that use little more then the basic formula (such as a buffy episode where she does little more than slay a few vamps in a cemetary)

There's always something better than this or that. Just how it is.

Kenish:Trust and Betrayal? hmm...Must go find it and watch!

Ok...Bleach is good, well Manga at least...and Gundam Wing is LONG! About 40-50 episodes!!!! And then you have the movie, Endless Waltz, which was like 1 1/2-2 hours long...shesh. I love Gundam Wing but woah man.

Dot.Hack//Sign is weird. I don't like One Piece, looks stupid to me. Elfen Lied's awesome...only 13 episodes long...Which just sucks...Pokemon was stupid, but I liked it in the begining and I still have my pokemon cards sadly. Digimon wasn't too bad. Though the newer season thing looks stupid. And Yu-Gi-Oh! wasn't too bad. The new one is stupid.

How does that suck? It tells it's story, then that's it. Things shouldn't keep talking when they're told what they want to tell - that's called 'rambling' or 'Naruto.'

Naruto's not that bad, just the filler is because it's stupid, and annoying, and the proper story line is actually getting meh now, not that great.

Anime and Manga has probably gained popularity based on the following factors.

* Comics and Cartoons have always been popular with the masses, but in America the potential has been lost because of the fall of newspapers to the LCD, and the narrowing of the comic book genre to virtually superheros and nothing else.

* Animation is consdiered kids stuff here. Not in Europe or Japan. So the Anime industry is providing a market for those that aren't being served, especially in the S-F/Fantasy genres. Comics and Comic Strips used to be like this, but they were aimed at kids for a long time.

* There is a eunii when it comes to commerical properties in America. Things like "Star Trek" and American Superhero comics seem so predictable--people don't die, for instance. This is a generalization, but Japan seems to allow a beginning-middle-end to a story--they treat is as literature there--while in America we tend to milk properties until they jump the shark, and everybody tries for the long-term--as long as it makes money, we keep it alive.

I say it's a generalization because Japan acts like a business as well--but over there they at least say enoughs enough when they are finished, and still respect the creator somewhat.

I do think some of it is faddish--Pokemon, Digimon, and Yu-Gi-Oh really helped make it hit the masses. I think the style of manga was designed to maximize quick stories and should not be duplicated for all comics--it skimps on details so you can draw fast. I don't like culture snobs who say "it's got to be written in Japan", you should read it right to left, you should only watch it subtitled or learn Japanese.

It sucks because I really want to know more!!! I've still got to watch the last 3, but it seems so terribly short. Meh..I'll just have to wait an see.

Gundam Wing? Long?! O_o Compared to something like FLCL (6 episodes), of course. Compared to Dragonball Z (easily over 500), Sailor Moon, Naruto, or Inu Yasha? Not even close. Also, it feels much shorter the less filler there is. Witch Hunter Robin is an excellent anime, but the first half of the series lags badly because it's mostly filler, compared to the last half.

I notice a kind of trend there.
It's like this unwritten law that after the first 2-3 episodes there has to be a period of crappy filler for you to "get used to the characters" or something before it actually starts.

Not true will good series A good series can introduce characters and still be interesting. Sidetracking to introduce a character is a sign of bad writing, and one I see too much

It depends entirely on the show, I think. Azumanga Daioh I love, and it's pretty much one episode per character for a while. Then again, that has a very different feel than most other anime. And being a comedy, as long as it's amusing, it's not filler. -shrug-