Why do people like Anime?

LOL was it called Demon King Daimao? Of course it has some weird stuff, its an anime that was made for a specific type of audience, mainly geared towards perverted men... Not a good anime to start off with when you want to learn what anime is about... Some better anime that might give you a good introduction to it are:

Steins;Gate (Science/Thriller Theme)

Cowboy Bebop (Action/Adventure Theme)

Gintama (Comedy Theme)

Angel Beats!, Clannad (Drama Theme)

Toradora (Romance)

Detective Conan (Mystery)

Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Death Note, Sword Art Online (Popular Anime)

There's a lot that's compelling about anime: the culture expressed within, the animation, the characters, the design, the music, etc. But it generally takes some times to get used to. You have to learn what sets anime apart as you go along and be willing to accept and enjoy the differences.

I've never watched Demon King, but I imagine it's probably not a good introduction to anime. I would suggest maybe one of the following:

Cowboy Bebop

Any Miyazaki film (ex. Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, Howl's Moving Castle)

Summer Wars

Bleach

Naruto

Death Note

The last three on the list are super popular; the earlier three are superior examples as enjoyed by broad audiences.

I would definitely say, don't judge anime based on one episode of a middling series.

I really don't think you should just jump into it like that because what you're exposed to first can be the defining factor to what you think about the whole medium. That's why most anti-anime fans think it's all porn or tentacles. You don't seem to like the perverted stuff and that's okay most people don't, in the west anyway.

Just think of your favorite genre whether it be books or movies. Mine would be mystery so I like to watch the mystery genre of anime the most. Not to say I don't watch all others, but that's what I look for in an anime the most. If you like action then check out action. If you really want to give it shot then familiarize yourself with the tags such as ecchi which focuses on the lewdness of girls. You don't seem to be into that so avoid it. Also moe which focuses on the cute of girls and so on.

I'm really against just giving out shows to watch when I have no idea what you may or may not like. So unless you were to list your favorite kind of genre I would be happy to suggest something. Or even sub genre, art style, sub or dub. If you're still not sure then watch at least 5 anime of each genre to see what you like and don't like. Give any kind of anime at least 3 episodes then decide if you want to drop it or keep up with it.

As for why people like it, different strokes for different folks. There is a lot of garbage out there, as with anything, but you have push pass the garbage to get to the gold.

Why I like is just because I love animation in general, movies, TV, animation shorts, anime and cartoons. I don't think anyone is better than the other.

Trust me once you like one anime you keep finding more until you are in love with it. Some anime tell an amazing story and are amazing or just plain exciting. You could watch a gateway anime which are the ones you always hear about like Naruto, Bleach, or One piece those might get you into it. My personal recommendation of a good anime is "Code Geass" Watch the first two episodes and you'll probably get addicted this is one of the best animes ever! You can find them on youtube or animefreak.tv.

Honestly man, you started in the wrong place. Diving straight into an Ecchi (I assume your talking demon king daimao) is really not a very good introduction to the medium. And I should stress that word heavily, medium, because that's exactly what anime is. Anime is like movies, they cover every possible genre (and a few more that exist only in anime) and every possible theme, so anime has something to offer everyone, its just a matter of finding what genre's and sub-genre's you like.

Of course, anime has some things that set it apart from other mediums. Getting the first and most obvious point out of the way, it can be very, very weird. Unlike western media, anime pretty much has carte blanche to do whatever the hell it wants when it comes to storytelling and themes, so the variety and freshness of the material has alot of appeal. The fact that its animated is also very advantageous, suspension of disbelief comes easier and things are less likely to feel unrealistic or cheesy.

The other advantage of anime being an animated medium is that it can be perfectly precision targeted to the whim and desire of specific audiences, something collectively called 'fan service'. You've already encountered the more audacious aspects of this, and when you hear the word fanservice you'll usually be associating it with that, but it covers more or less everything. Got a weird fetish, you'll find it eventually. Find some specific aspect of a girl attractive, you'll find one to your tastes etc etc.

So lets talk about gateway titles now, things that can give you a more solid introduction into what anime is without throwing you headfirst into the deep end. Someone above recommended Naruto, One Piece and Bleach, but I'm going to counter and tell you not to start there (and this is more about internal ideologies than because I think those shows are really bad). The reason is, those show's are long and follow a very specific set of genre tropes. I've seen to many new fans watch those and only those, and as a result get stuck in a rut of only ever watching those, and never break into anime as a wider thing.

As for my recommendations (I'll try to mix them up, cover most genres. No guarantee you'll like everything I list, its surprisingly tough to recommend things because alot of anime is very mediocre).

- Death Note (Psychological, Thriller)

- Higurashi no Naku koro ni (Psychological, Horror)

- Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Psychological, Drama, Thriller) sub (Magical Girl)*

- Clannad, Kanon, Air, Angel Beats! (Drama, Romance, Comedy, Tragedy, Action - Angel Beats only) **

- Neon Genesis Evangelion (Psychological, Action, Mecha)

- Bakemonogatari***

- Highschool of the Dead (Horror, Action, Ecchi) ~

- Lucky star (Comedy, Slice of Life)

- Steins;Gate (Slice of life, Thriller, Sci-fi )

- Toradora (Romance)

* Don't be turned off by the term 'magical girl'. You get MG shows targeted at little girls and you get some targeted at older guys, weird huh. PMMM is kind of a weird intro to anime as a whole, but its one of the stand-out works from the last couple of years that set the whole collective random on fire, and so it deserved a mention.

** I put these four together because of how they are related. The were all written by the same company (Key, a very high profile Visual Novel label), and all except AB! animated by the same company as well. I recommend them all highly. Most people like Clannad the best, but personally I think it the weaker of the 4. AB! is the funniest, and also has lots of action which the others don't have. I think AB! would be a good start for anime, as it has a bit of everything and is my personal favorite.

*** Straight up, Bakemonogatari is the first anime I think of when people ask for weird anime. It's good, but its weird. I included this one as more of an example of how anime can go into uncharted means of storytelling and pull it off.

~ I make no claims about the quality of this show. It's trashy and low brow, consisting of three popular themes (****, guns and zombies) and that's pretty much it. That's not to say that its not fun though, it dosent have to be an art piece to be entertaining.

People like anime because its just fun to watch and usually there is nothing good on tv but there are lots of kinds of different anime there is fighting harem my favorite lol mecha adventure and a lot more

well i love anime because it has so many different storylines and plots and genres...it can pull off supernatural and fantasy elements without looking cheesy and it opens a new world of literature of plots that i love and enjoy (manga)

for instance, a manga that's one of my favorite is Cage of Eden - i called it the lovechild of Lost and Jurassic Park, its where a plane crashes into an unknown island that has animals that have been extinct for hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions of years (not typical dinosaurs *animals like the andrewsarchus*)

Anime is very flexible. It allows for realistic plot and violence, yet also allows the surrealism found in other style of animation.

Theres a lot more to anime than what you just described. Not all of them are like that.

lol my friend asked me the same question and instead of giving her a reason i gave her my dvd of Death Note anime , now she is an anime fan too :)