taotu

As far as I'm concerned, the general quality of anime is equivalent to the general quality of American sitcoms/dramas. Which means - yes, an awful lot of it is shit, with cliche storylines, constant misunderstandings, and unlikely circumstances that keeps things from resolving. But every once in a while there's a real gem, that might defy the cliches and create a new standard, or uses the cliches to its advantage.
 
Most of the anime that Americans have been exposed to is not good anime. The anime that is being imported and broadcast on television (which is what you'll see if you don't seek it out) is generally the kind of stuff that sells to young kids- Naruto, Yu-gi-oh, Pokemon- not the good stuff, but stuff that results in good merchandising. (You're not going to get the little ones into the 'Seinfeld' of animes, it'll go straight over their heads) This tends to be sloppily dubbed, and devoid of emotional impact. If that's the kind of stuff you've been watching, I'm not surprised you don't enjoy anime, or have an awful lot of respect for it.
 
If you've watched a couple of episodes of Mushishi, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and Cowboy Bebop and still say that all anime is the same and it's all crap, well- I don't understand where you're coming from. But until you've seen that kind of quality art/writing, you haven't seen what anime art & storytelling can really accomplish.