Biggest Problem with getting people into anime?

I think it's probably the ecchi, since most anime have some sort of mild ecchi or at least one or two strange ecchi jokes that only an anime fan would understand. As well as general Japanese humour. People don't get it haha

The negative stereotypes are usually what I encounter; pedo porn, tentacle-rape, drawn snuff films, etc... I usually try to ease them in with one an artsy feature length films that got syndicated by a large American studio. Miyazaki's spirited away, Nausica of the valley of wind, Summer Wars, GITS, Akira. Whatever style of normal cinema they usually like is a good start. I avoid showing them ones that are overloaded with fan-service unless they are comfortable with those things. I had a GF almost break-up with me once because of Battle Angel Alita. She decided to peruse my collection while I was at work and I was one tape short when I came home. The scene where Alita's dog gets killed made her flip out. I noticed a lot of the girls I went to college with that were closet anime fans usually liked Inu Yasha. Boys are easy, babes in battle armor blowing shit up rarely is disliked lol.

Eh, I don't have a problem with getting people into anime. I just describe the shows without telling them it *is* an anime. If they say they like a particular show and promise to watch it, I do tell them it's an anime, and I've pretty much caught them. More often than not, the people I've tricked into watching usually do come back to me for suggestions until they figure out where to go for their own anime needs. I do occasionally get the typical attacks on anime, but I defy it with multiple animes to showcase variety. Some will show that, yes some anime is pretty weird, but that a lot of it is much more awesome. In addition, pointing out other media that are "just as bad" within the person's own circle of interest helps too. I also tend to show some more of the more seinen stuff first though for most part... Black Lagoon and Cowboy Bebop are my go to counter examples of "All anime is for kids." I'm going to throw Sword Art Online here because it's all around great and has a pretty serious premise that gets peoples' attention quickly. Against "naughty tentacles", I show them slice of life series. Working! (Wagnaria), Genshiken and Nichijou are some solid examples. Against "Mindless humor" I use a few series that teach basic principles like economics. Maoyuu Maou Yuusha, Spice and Wolf and Silver Spoon. The list goes on and on...Hm.... I dunno if anyone *wants* help with trying to convince their friends to start watching anime, but why not throw me some of reasons of them not wanting to watch anime and I'll toss an example + a reason and hopefully it sticks.

Getting them into anime isn't too difficult; the casual American has heard/watched Pokemon, Naruto, Dragon Ball or Gundam Wing (yes, stereotypical Toonami examples) so giving them a lite version of anime is fine. Getting them hooked onto anime though...is challenging. Personally, while I do like Western shows (Downtown Abbey, Game of Thrones, House, CSI etc), I tend to think of anime first when I think of "TV" or shows. The same applies to the casual American; anime won't be their first thought when they want to watch a drama/TV.

funny responses. I think biggest problem personally is getting them to think about it differently. Most people I know consider it to be cartoon stuff, and not socially acceptable. If you want them to watch in Japanese, forget it.

That people think it is porn or only for children. Another one is you have to know Japanese to watch anime. If they know it can be subbed, people think it a bother to read subtitles.

Finding shows worth sharing with non anime fans, you make it really frigging difficult Japan with all the weird stuff you put into anime.