<Carried over from another thread>
I know nothing about anime. I think the only anime show or movie I have ever seen is Battle of the Planets back in the 70's.
A lot has changed since then!
Disclaimer: I'm about to generalize heavily and this is based on US offerings, so take what I'm saying with a HUGE grain of salt. And yes, there are plenty of outliers that buck this trend, but imo, the below applies fairly accurately to the bulk of them.
Compared to anime from the 70s/80s, current anime has changed quite a bit. A more distinct "anime" character design (gigantic eyes, smaller noses, colored hair, more youthful/rounded faces with simple features, etc), and more of a polished/glossy look throughout. Animation quality has of course improved greatly as technology and budgets have improved a lot over the years.
Shonen (anime aimed at teenage boys) dominates, mostly revolving around action/adventure stories where good characters fight evil ones, usually with sci-fi or supernatural elements. Superpowers and fanservice abound. Also, high schools are suspiciously prominent. In addition to Shonen, there's also a lot of comedy or horror anime out now, so your experience can range wildly from saccharine cuteness to dark and disturbing artwork - sometimes within the same series. *shudders*
Overall, I think it has simultaneously improved greatly (branching out from something that was just for young kids to a bunch of different genres, many with very serious themes and enjoyable by adult audiences as well as teens) and degenerated (clichΓ©d and inbred to the point that I can compare/contrast any two current anime series chosen at random and find few substantial differences, Sturgeon's Law is definitely out in force due in part to the huge number of series)
