Anime and Art

The best example I can think of that reminds me of how people react to anime and manga now in the art world, would be Cubism. Cubism is Western. Anime (&) Manga are Eastern. But location matters very little. Key point is, they're both art. Both made a lot of money in the same time they were appreciated and known about in.

The biggest criticism both schools of art faced (aesthetics aside) is that they both had many detractors that said they weren't "real art". BUT, the same thing was said about Walt Disney's work in his early cartooning and animation career, and look how that worked out. Manga is cartooning. Anime is both design-based animation and filmmaking.