Ok, I probably qualify as one of the older folk. *blush*
For me anime is the perfect combination of everything I've ever loved. Seriously! Starting with Grimm's Fairy Tales at age 6 or 7 I've worked with a deep and abiding joy in all things folkore/mythology/religion. [Side note: student of religions, practitioner of none].
I've also nursed a horrific addiction to fantasy and science fiction starting when someone introduced me to Tolkien in about 1977 or so, and it got worse with the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (wherein I think lies the beginning of my fascination for the male characters who are "marked" or "other" in some way). The long, complex stories and well-developed characters and places are the "draw" in this genre for me.
Oh yes, then there were D&D, text-based RPGs, and most recently MUDs, all of which share that "alternate reality" thing we love about anime. They also allow the creation of evolving and detailed stories about the places and characters therein. (Oh how I envy those of you who write well enough to do fanfics. I simply do not have what it takes to make a good plot, even though I have written stories for as long as I've been alive.)
Add to the mix a strong attraction to brightly colored, simply drawn artwork -- simple in the sense of bold, clean lines rather than abstract or impressionistic stuff -- as well as some 30 years of music background and, well, you have the mix that first drew me into anime. El Hazard started it off, but Escaflowne with its amazing soundtrack really cemented the deal. (Can you say "blown away"?) It was as though I had stepped into the perfect environment, something I had been preparing for my entire life.
Since I knew next to nothing about the Far East four years ago, I've had the additional delight of diving into Japanese history and culture, picking up a few dozen words and phrases of Japanese. (oddly enough, neither my German nor French studies ever resulted in my having decent pronunciation skills, but I can natter away in the little Japanese I know and actually sound good!). I've got this collection, which is something I hadn't done in YEARS... plus this little side collection of figures and pins and other stuff. It's even given me the desire to draw again. I was a very good sketch artist as a young person, but didn't touch a thing for probably 20 years... and would you believe one of my sketches of Gourry actually got published in an educational technology journal last year. (hee)
To top it all off, I get to share this with my kids. They will sit and listen to me tell them stories about the history of the world, and things about how geography is important to history and the story line (Kenshin is a great show for that), and how existing mythologies work themselves into the anime. And they ask the questions. Of course I use pretty simple language, but they'd never sit and listen to a lecture like that if I said "now I'm going to teach you something." But if we're watching stellar swordwork in kenshin, and they want to know what "samurai" means...
Whew! on and on forever. What should be clear, if nothing else, is the fact that I love this stuff and am forever indebted to Kymaera for introducing me to it.
) to another forum member the other night. . . It arose when my son said something along the lines of, "Mom you're psycho, Yugioh's for kids!" I of course laughed, knowing, as I do now, 29 ain't a whole hell of a lot different from 19 and he'll get-it soon enough.
When I was a kid, I used to watch anime always. Then when I was in a Jr high, I started drawing manga and created a doujinshi with my friends (we used to sell them at komike, short for comic market). 
I also loved cartoons, and had an extremely overactive imagination. I guess I just never grew out of it. Some people are like that. 
