Into anime for the counterculture

We've all gotten into anime for different reasons.  Sometimes we have friends that get us into anime, other times we just stumble upon something on our own.  For whatever reasons, we've all come to know and love what anime can offer.  I'm just happy to be a part of the anime movement rather than being on the outside!  As a result of that, it also makes me part of the anime counterculture.

Whether we realize it or not, or even if we care or not, anime is not part of the the regular entertainment that people take in.  That doesn't make it any less interesting or worthy of taking our free time, that's just the way it is.  For reasons that are still being looked at now, we know that the mainstream movie/TV viewer isn't either into anime, or is unaware of what it is.  For us, we're still in on the ground level.

I imagine that's why some people actually got into anime in the first place.  There are indeed people that aim to hop in on trends before they become actual trends.  Sometimes those things never actually catch on, but it still gives those people a bit a pride to know that they're in on something that may never be discovered by the public at large.  Again, this doesn't mean the quality is better/worse for it, but at least we can agree that those that don't watch anime are missing out!

Just how counterculture do you view anime to be?  It's obvious that a lot of people know of anime, but they don't actually view any of the content.  It's almost like a mainstream entertainment form that the majority of people don't watch.  Does the counterculture aspect of anime matter to you?  Do you take pride in viewing content that is largely unnoticed by the masses?