I'll sit on the fence and take both sides, just to be an asshole.
I've watched some animes. I don't remember its name, but there was one where the story was that an ancient, illusional Japan was split into zones or whatever, and each zone had a supernatural protector. It was bloody and gory as fuck and sorta cool.
I also used to play World of Warcraft. I've spent some ten hours PREPARING to have an aquarium, and I didn't even buy the aquarium yet. That doesn't include time spent reading up on shit online. Don't ask me how I spent the hours. I love micro management. I love playing games on consoles and computers. All in all, I can admit to being a geek. "Geek" is just a word though, that defines nothing really. I'm happy the way I am so fuck people who don't like me. If I have to tend to a limited group of others "like me" to have friends, that doesn't bother me in the least bit. There's billions of people. I don't need people to tell me that my hobbies are cool or "okay" for me to enjoy them.
At the same time, whenever I discuss said hobbies with anyone I try to be uhm.. conserved. Restrained. I'm the guy that if you tell me I'm a geek I'll laugh and make fun of you back. Doesn't matter if I got you or not, I feel like I got you and laugh at your stupidity if you try to act too cool for my interests. In the end, half the world will consider me a loser but I'll eventually come out happier than all of them, probably.
Acknowledging the loser-ish qualities of who you are, imo, is the duty of any person who claims intellect and personal insight. Again, if anyone disagrees I simply laugh at your pathetic views, but that's my view if anyone cares.
Edit: I guess what I'm trying to say is, if the people hating on anime represents one of two extremities, Gotti you gotta be on the other end. Maybe it is so that the whole anime thing started with Japanese movie companies trying to cope with their limited resources, and it is true that animated art sparked real life video capturing. I'll use an analogy to make a point; children might find it funny to jump in bed and beating a ball around with a stick, but as you grow older your imagination starts faltering compared to your ideal imagination at a low age, and you need a more vivid experience to come out of it having felt the same amount of "thrill". I watched cartoons as a child, but it got to a point where they became too simplistic. I enjoyed that anime I described above, and Naruto as well, but never as much as a really good movie. If you need to justify why you watch anime, don't call people who hate on it uneducated, just say it's because you really like it. Some people like mustard, others don't. Why should hobbies be any different with what we know in the oh eight.