One of the best things about the Japanese animation and comic industries is the diversification of content. Since neither form of cartoons are viewed as just children's entertainment, the big companies put out content for all ages and interests. Manga is the key source of this diversity of content. You really can find a manga for any subject and interest. Need to study for exams? There's a manga on that subject. Want to read about people cooking? It's an entire genre of manga. Card games? Monster battles? Boy on boy romance? They all exist and so much more.

Anime is a bit trickier. It's, quite obviously, more expensive to produce a television show or film than it is to print a black and white comic book, so there isn't quite as much diversity in anime. Still, the sheer amount of anime series running at any given time on Japanese television is sure to give you something that will catch your interest.

Hulu is my choice to stream anime at this point. CrunchyRoll gets the stuff a little bit faster, but Hulu picks up a whole lot more of the supernatural series that catch my eye. Netflix has declined in quality over years and is best saved for renting older anime DVDs at a fraction of the cost of buying them stateside. Amazon Prime has a nice variety and Daisuki is getting a lot of exclusives from some big production companies.

Just today, I was looking for some new series to watch on Hulu and stumbled across one that could be amazing or terrible. Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God is an anime about a high school student who is gifted at solving puzzles. Like, brain teasers, Sudoku, and mazes. Actual printed puzzles. He's so good, he solves an impossible puzzle that gives him a special armband that brings out his maximum puzzle solving ability. Now he travels all over Japan, tackling the deadly God Puzzles that only the most gifted puzzle solvers are invited to attempt for extravagant prizes. He is (wait for it) only in it for solving the puzzles. The prizes mean nothing to him.

Now, I know there are a number of people who would read that description and rather watch paint dry than ever try out Phi-Brain for themselves. That's fine. There are quite a few popular anime series that make me want to marathon Hoarders in that eye restraint chair from A Clockwork Orange rather than watch another minute of them.

The beauty of anime and the entire cartooning culture in Japan is that no one is stuck just watching the one series available to them. This isn't the literal domination of Fox, offering all but one of the five major mature animated series available on primetime (the fifth being Archer). This is a TV schedule packed to the gills with new animated series every fall, winter, spring, and summer. And, the rapid advancement in streaming technology means the most popular and critically acclaimed shows are available within days, if not minutes, around the world.

Dig around. If you don't think you like anime, you probably just haven't found the series or genre that's right for you.

This post was part of AniMAY 2014. Click through for more great content.