I sincerely hope you are kidding around here Andy (even if your anime dislike is sincere), and you really cant be as idiotic as you come off.
Anime (and manga) is a media form just like most things. It has it varying degrees of quality and type. But unlike traditional western cartoon, its not in any shape or form a medium that is targetted only to kids. Its a medium Japan use for all age groups, and hence you have everything from mature, gritty and deep stuff to regular fluff and Pokemon crap (its like regular tv industry, it has its baywatchs and jerry springers to it top notch stuff like HBO series or such).
I sincerely doubt either you or Sarah has bothered to watch 5% of the material in offering so I even if I get not watching it because its not your cup of tea, I REALLY dont get the over obssessive sweeping and generalizing. As I said, you have to have been watching it to get the wide range of concepts and series it has. In that again, in Japan the medium is more or less like how tv series are for us, then just a narrow spectrum of medium like cartoons are over here.
For example, anyone watched an american Tv series called Firely? Quite great cult series, and a record breaking series in DVD sales even 5 years after it was cancelled. Well an anime series that is identical to it is Cowboy bebop, in style, quality and concept. Same thing with stuff like the anime Ghost in The shell having alot in common with the movie Blade runner and other sci fi classics. The story telling medium of anime has a kind of scope you cant bog down to a narrow genre of just cartoon, and it really cant be as simplified as you wish it to be (its a medium like books or tv to them. They have kiddy anime to stuff like serious historical fiction of their historical figures, which they later adapt to movies from these animes/mangas) .
I would have understood if you we viewed anime (especially Anime films who are award winning top notch stuff that compete with regular movies or their betters at times) and hence could judge the nuances of it. Being judgmental then is understandable, know fans who are and I am in aspects, havent seen much new of it in 2 years because too many series are formulaic.
But you two really dont sound like you know two bits of it to judge as broadly as you do. Like you tasted every flavour of it and then spat them all out. Understandable to not like it in first impression and dont want to try it. But not understandable to degree you are taking to judging it. Grouping Pokemon together with Paranoia agent like they are the same thing for example, is like saying Nickoledeon kiddy shows for 5 year olds is EXACTLY like shows like the West wing or such. Just because they are in the same medium of tv. Hopefully this SIMPLE point sinks in with you.
And Andy, no offense, but if you arent going to bother respond seriously to this, then dont bother at all.