Regarding a certain subset of Japanese arts...

I watch their anime, I read their manga and their novels, I play their games.

I do. And I like them. They are fun.
Which brings up the topic of anime and related things in Japanese culture.
In this post I'll mostly try to clear up some misconceptions you people may have about said topic.

Expect to learn new things while reading this. Also expect me to target this post mostly at citizens of the US, since they seem to be the most misguided of the bunch.

• Anime (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime)
  People don't actually know what the word means.
  When they hear the word "anime", they think of animation in general. Also, when they hear the word "anime" pronounced properly, it sounds very alien. Not so used to EH's being pronounced in the end of words, eh? (See what I did there?)
  
  The word "anime" refers specifically to Japanese animation. It is very different from western animation (e.g. Disney films), in art style, in target audience, in base concepts and assumptions, and in culture.
• Firstly, in almost all cases (and I really mean, almost 100% of cases, with some quite notable exceptions), the art is completely different. Noticeable are the big eyes and small mouth, which, as an art style, has been around for a while and still persists in most productions, albeit not as pronounced as it was 30 years ago.
• Secondly, the target audience of most anime productions is adolescents. That means teenagers, not 5-year-old kids. This is partly due to the fact that it is an actual industry and people tend to be impressionable during puberty. Like in your (supposedly well-known) western television and movie industry, 
• there is anime for pre-adolescent children, which explores the concepts of learning about the world (like all good kids do!); 
• there is anime for teenagers, which explores the struggles of puberty, as well as reaching adulthood, learning about responsibility, romantic and sexual matters, although the latter often in a very misguided fashion; and,
• there is anime for young adults, which starts off right where adolescence ends, moves past mandatory education, into University, employment, marriage, and so on and so forth. 
• Thirdly, the Japanese are, generally, not Christian. Also, the Japanese have been around  for a while now. These points, as you could expect, makes their art very different than that of the West. Respect for their elders and honoring relationships between people in general is so different that you could call them the polar opposite to the cheerful and open citizens of the United States. To the US folks, the Japanese look reserved, formal, and often unwelcoming. To the Japanese... the US folks look rude and loud. No, don't tell them to chillax, dammit! 

• Manga (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manga)
  People don't actually know what the word means.
  When they hear the word "manga", they think of "anime". For more information see the first paragraph of the previous bullet point.
  
  The word "manga" refers to Japanese still cartoons and comics. In other words, manga are drawings. In their most popular form, they are comics, usually serialized in magazines, and also sold separately, aggregated into volumes. A typical comic is 20 pages, a typical volume is 200 pages. They are books with drawings and text.
  
  The manga industry is a tough place. Only the popular or really really interesting survive. You've probably heard about some of them, like Naruto, like Bleach, like One Piece, or if you're really lucky, like Fullmetal Alchemist. And this is when I hear "But hey, shoftee, dude, those are anime series, what the hell are you talking about?".
  That is only half-correct. The anime series you are referring to are anime adaptations of the manga series listed above.
  
  Compared to anime, manga are much more varied in genre, target audience, quality, volume.

• Hentai (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hentai) (note, link may not be safe for work)
  People don't actually know what the word means.
  When people hear the word "hentai", they think of porn. In reality, the Japanese seldom refer to adult material using the word "hentai", this is only a (not-so-misguided but still incorrect) connection they make since the word means "perverted". However, that brings us to:

• pervert (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pervert)
  People don't actually know what the word mean- well this is not entirely true. However in this context, it is important to know that the more general meaning of the word refers to abnormality in human behavior, not specifically a sexual one. "hentai" refers to this dated meaning of the word.

All in all, anime is not just your Pokemon and your Sailor Moon and your Dragon Ball and your Gundam, at times it can actually be much worse! But I'm not here to make it look bad, the industry does that job quite well on its own.

Naw, I'm ranting about it because it is so much more than prolonged low-budget fight scenes, throwing plastic balls around, gigantic robots combining into even more gigantic robots, recycled magical girl transformation sequences.

At times this art explores the depths of the world, it asks you uncomfortable questions, it points you at serious problems. It brings you joy, thrill, struggle, tears, horror. 

It explores the intricacies of the human condition, in its own unusual way.

And isn't that what counts?