I don't care for or even watch/read much anime or manga. Pokémon is probably one of few that I follow fanatically and I've also enjoyed Cardcaptors (the 4Kids dub at least) and Hamtaro. If How Not to Draw Manga is any indication, I probably wouldn't care for anything else.
From what I've seen, Japanese cartoons fall into these categories:
- It doesn't really matter what setting or characters the show or comic has, if it's extremely popular on both sides of the Pacific, it generally involves some sort of quest, episode-long staring contests, ugly character design, superpowers, and lots of screaming complete with oversized mouths.
- Butt-kicking samurai on a journey. Lots of references to traditional Japanese mythology.
- Cyberpunk post-apocalyptic Lovecraftian gorefests, centered around an anti-hero.
- Feature films that make absolutely no sense in any language.
- Mostly nonsensical schoolgirl dramedies.
- Über-kawaii magical animal befriends little kid and has adventures!
- Sexy girls in bikinis being sexy. Who knows what the plot is.
- Collectible monsters/robots/whatever. Endless competition ensues.
- Giant robots.
- Horrible perverted nightmare-inducing porn.
