Andrew McAfee

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)

Well, here’s a good case in point. People say Annihilation (2018) is thought-provoking, it’s challenging, and it’s considered a good movie. I read some stuff about it (and the book) and said “...nnnnope!” Haven’t seen it. In part because I didn’t wanna think about its point.

Doki seem to even be scheduled for release here in in Japan