I think its the big eyes. They hypnotize skinny white nerds into watching them do cute things :3. I don't particularly watch anime, but I look at it like any other show or cartoon. Most have deep and interesting plots, or if you watched shows like dragonball that don't revolve around lil gurlies, you know that everything that happens is fucking awesome. As for obsessing over the preteen factor, I think the majority of men have an edge towards younger women. Maybe I would watch anime too, If I wasn't already fucking a 14 year older.