There's a lot of weird trending going on in the past couple of years.
When I was in middle school (so like 11-13 years old), I used to be as close to a gamer as one could be at that age. I had my Game Boy, I had multiple consoles, I had a PC running some sweet games. But during this time, if anyone were ever to call themselves self proclaimed gamers, they'd get lashed for it. Being a gamer was looked down upon as dorky/nerdy whatever.
Fast forward to my high school days where the "next-gen" consoles were being launched and all that stuff. The next thing I know, everyone and their girlfriend who's ever picked up a 360 controller is not trying to call themselves a gamer. It's like the cool thing now to know a bit about gaming/tech stuff. You're seeing things like "Game Fuel" at stores and shows like Attack of the Show showcasing tech stuff with pop culture.
The point being, I don't think it will be too long before anime becomes a bit more mainstream. I don't think it will ever explode, but it will gain more acceptance as not just a weeaboo thing. Because "average" people are slowly getting into the gaming/ tech scene, I think there will be some residual side effects of accepting anime, as it's quite popular among the gaming scene. I mean, anime has come a long time since being introduced as "japanime." (I'm pretty sure MMM brought that up which made me lol because I hadn't heard that term in so long
)