I love it.
"Why is it called anime yet everything else is just called a cartoon?"
Well, technically if you want to split hairs anime literally means animated. If you want to delve further its because generally speaking anime keeps itself distinct from western animated styles in more than just how everything is depicted.
There's basically two main camps for the animoo.
Legendary Anime-
Yeah, that's a bit of a reach around but this is the stuff that breaks down barriers and generally is well received everywhere. We're talking about Miyazaki films and shows that are widely revered like Cowboy Beebop, Ghost in the Shell and Trigun. These are animes that typically blend- they're not rooted in the traditional "holy shit those are huge eyes and boobs" style you'll see in generic anime. There obvious trends from westernized styles, and sometimes even the English dubs can out do their Japanese counterparts.
That anime-
There hair is huge, their eyes are huge, and they're going to spend 30 episodes training and powering up. This is typically the stuff that is actually confusing- unlike other regions Japan typically puts out their anime as soon as it's ready- there really isn't a proper "season" so much as a story arc. So what happens when you get something like Bleach where the show literally catches up with the manga? Filler content. Typically this stuff relies on stock humor to try to carry it through tired morals and generally bad character design.
Its a shame you don't really see animated features get any exposure in the west short of children's cartoons and comedic functions for grown up audiences (at best, the Simpsons, and early seasons of Family Guy, and at worst crap like American Dad) since its such a dynamic medium. Of course, I also have a theory that there is no such thing as a good Japanese actor which may be exactly why there's so much anime.
