Anime's Status

Anime especially in Miyazaki’s films has a classical approach in terms of its appearance and contexts. This focus on historical elements and the way Miyazaki tries to make it relevant in the modern world definitely suggest Anime can be considered a highly conceptual medium. In Princess Mononoke he uses the history of Japan’s industrialization to try and get across messages about environmentalism which are very relevant in this day and age. He uses philosophical arguments that indulge in traditional spirituality to explore different viewpoints of the natural world. Many animated films don't have this much historical depth in 

In Japan, Anime has widespread appeal that is much more impactful than in the western world. It doesn't mean Anime hasn't enjoyed great commercial success overseas (Pokemon being the obvious example) but it normally has a ‘fan boy’ status outside of these more phenomena moments in the western world. 

I think in general Napier (2005) tends to consider Anime a high culture product which has a cross generational appeal. In contrast to more commercial animation like Disney, there is a genuine and constant effort to put out works that explore more high end concepts and visuals. There is also works that are targeted towards different interest groups and is much more fragmented in their approach in dealing with audiences. The advent of magna could be seen as a by-product of anime which caters to a large amount of people in Japan. Magna especially focuses more on adult themes and tend to be much darker in tone and shows how animation can be much more flexible in catering towards older audiences.