Take time to find the good stuff. There's a lot of good anime out there you haven't seen, especially the stuff that hasn't made it all the way over here yet, like Hunter X Hunter and Monster.
The JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime isn't as good as the original manga or anything, but it's still miles better than Bleach as far as an action/shounen anime is concerned.
There's also a lot of old anime you probably haven't seen that's great, like Battle Angel and the Patlabor movies.
As far as anime being a "restrictive" medium... I disagree. I think it gives more freedom than a lot of other forms of media. Don't believe me? Here are some examples of animes that just wouldn't work as live action (regardless of the fact that a few of them are scheduled for live action releases, it's not going to
work, and that's the key thing):
Cowboy Bebop
The Animatrix
RahXephon
Gin Tama
Hunter X Hunter
Battle Angel
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
And then there are other animes that would work quite well as live action, but choose animation probably because of the style. These would be shows like Patlabor, Jin-Roh and Monster. They could work just AS well in live action (due to the realistic nature of these shows), but for whatever reason were made in animated form.
People who say anime is an "immature" medium in general probably haven't been exposed to the many, many examples of quality writing present in the less-popular animes. You can't look at Naruto or Bleach and say that's indicative of all anime, ever. Watch the Patlabor movies, Jin-Roh, Paprika, Monster and Cowboy Bebop and then talk to me about poor writing or immature storylines. Even something like Cromartie High School contains quality writing, with witty parodies and biting satire of common Japanese (and worldwide) steriotypes.
Look familiar?
Grave had a great storyline. I might try to convince my partner to buy Totoro, otherwise I'll have to do that myself.
