Andrew McAfee

I mean, I went that road myself when I got into anime—Blue Sub 6, Ninja Resurrection, Ghost in the Shell—but I’ve found a happy medium that doesn’t slip into the more disturbing stuff. Or, perhaps just the stuff that doesn’t disturb me, because Hellsing’s on the good-stuff list.

Are the really freaky anime actually necessary to someone’s development as a fan of the genre, though? Do you really HAVE to see the dog scene of Midori: Shoujo Tsubaki before you can say you have an understanding of anime?

well, freaky is subjective and I don't think there's ever a "true" understanding of anime. THe best you can hope for is your own personal interpretation.

Any media not just cartoons from a culture that’s alien to you will always register as odd

Well, while that is certainly true, I’m mostly referring to media that deliberately sets out to challenge you with weirdness or discomfort.

Honestly hard for me to be too objective here since I don’t hold Japanese cartoons in the high regard that many westerners seem to but challenging media exists everywhere and is that much harder for the outsider to the source culture

True, but how often do you like to be challenged by your media? And how aggressively? There’s games and Western film that challenges us too. Inception, Interstellar, anything by Kubrick...and down the list to things like Human Centipede.

Depends. Some things that were challenging decades ago are mundane now or I see through the shock intentions as “I remember my first beer”. Or I’m already exposed to some “new & challenging” because it’s recycled for a new audience (every generation thinks they invented sex)