[Tangram]

-_- First off, I've met plenty of people from Japan that are just as obsessed with cartoons and comics/anime and manga as a lot of the people in the rest of the world to whom you're referring. I think a large part of the reason that it seems like a lot of people in the US are obsessed with anime and manga is because they make up a good portion of the available cartoons and comics. People like cartoon series because they're not held by the same restrictions as live-action shows. Look at the popularity of Family Guy, The Simpsons, etc. Those aren't anime, but they're liked by a lot of the same people that like anime. For many, it's not that it's anime from Japan, it's that it's cartoons that have substance.

As for manga, comics have always been popular in the US, but most of the US-created ones are phasing out. People are bored with the same old superheroes and Archie comics. But wow, look at all those Japanese comics! There's so many!

As for people thinking that anime = Japan, I don't meet many of those people. And when I do, they're the same people that think The O.C. = California. They're idiots, and you'll find them within groups of people that like anything.