Personally, i think anime has the same use as 
American TV or movies...its entertainment. Not 
everything has to have deep meaning or 
complicated story-lines to entertain. People like 
things for different reasons. There are anime for 
older kids, younger kids, and those of us who 
never wanted to grow up. I enjoy Card Captor, 
anyone who knows me knows that, because the 
characters ARE cute..I'm a want-to-be artist and 
when I read the manga for Card Captor, it just 
impresses me so much what the CLAMP group can do. 
I used to love the Sailor Moon manga too, i think 
if ya have read that you wouldn't jump so fast 
into concluding SM as something for an 8 yr old. 
I think the fact that we have so many anime fans 
with different tastes is something to be 
celebrated rather to judge certain ones with 
personal preferences =)