I was indiferent.
I didn't dislike anime per se, but I really disliked the community.
Really there's nothing sadder than seeing those korean guys marrying pillows or pale white kids cosplaying as a yellow spiked hair weirdo and shouting randome japanese words.
Then I was introduced to the better animes by a friend and now I'm completely fascinated. There's really a sub-world behind the Naruto and One Piece of real masterpieces of drama, comedy and action.
Anime is that one place where you can go from an over the top action scene where shit goes batcrazy to a heartbreaking scene that leaves you depressed and thinking about your own life, on a time period of 10 minutes.
It's surprisingly variated too. There's aaall kind of stuffs, for all people. You don't like over-dramatic romance stories? That's fine, watch these ninjas kicking the shit out of each other instead. You don't like unreallistic worlds with magic and other nonsense? That's fine, watch this anime that deals with the problems of everyday routine.
My opinion has really changed. As I said, I didn't dislike Anime, I was just oblivious to it, and somewhat repulsed by the community, specially by those weird guys that sit at the back of the class, talk to nobody and draw nothing but semierotic anime girls all over their notebooks (we've all had one like this, boy or girl).
Now I really appreciate that a lot of works goes into this form of entertainment and it really deserves more recognition that it has. It really has a social stigma attached to it and it's really sad. Even in Japan, where you would think it would be an inherent part of the culture, it still has a bad reputation and Otakus are really disliked by the general population.
So guys, if you are gonna watch anime, do yourself a favor and try to act normally too, and don't be socially retarded. The anime culture depends on you not being part of the problem