Why do people think people who watch anime are weird?

Because they are normally 60 year old men watching it in their mothers basement

I think most anime watchers are teens tbh

Well since i'm a fairly pretty 18 year old girl people never guess I like anime thankfully and i'm grateful for that . This is because I don't blame those who think people who watch anime are weird; a lot of fans are creepy ugly obsessive men who are as gross as the anime they watch (oreimo, kissxsis ewww). But saying that i love anime myself. definitely not like the ones i just listed, but my faves are hunterxhunter, GINTAMA, jjba, death note, snk, sailor moon, gekkan shoujo nozaki kun and noragami. However most anime these days are garbage unfortunately because they pander to sweaty basement dwellers to make money. However, there are a lot of gems out there, that can grab you as much as western tv shows. To be quite honest I think i prefer animation over live action (both western cartoons and japanimation). I don't know why. The music is another thing that's great and the plots are really varied so that's it really.^^

I like animation more becuase the writer/animater can fully show what a character or an object represents which isn't that possible with live shows. Plus I just like the bright colours its mopre visually stimulating

I think thats a massive generalisation you're making, some anime are designed for those people but not everyone watches it

I love watching anime, it adds alot of spice to the mainstream westernised TV shows that I'm usually watching. I like looking at the artistic designs and bright colour palettes that most anime are accoustomed to. I like seeing stories which would never be told in western media and I like how short and sweet episodes are rather than spending an hour of my time on TV.

So people who think that anime watchers are weird, what has formed that perception?

The fact that a lot are? A lot of the people I know who do are going nowhere, socially inept and have bad personal hygiene.

Stereotypes form because of patterns, they don't emerge out of the blue.

I'm going uni, i'm social awkward but that was befire getting into anime and I shower and brush my teeth every day.
I know tons of normal people who like anime inclusing cute girls

I have a feeling that what I call cute and what you do may be worlds apart....

So people who think that anime watchers are weird, what has formed that perception?

I love anime - it's a part of my life. I think that the people who gave that weird perception, well, are the people who make anime themselves. You see, Hayao Miyazaki (the famous guy from Studio Ghibli I think, who made Spirited Away), said that "Anime was a mistake" - because of the weeaboos. Weeaboos are those guys (and girls) that are obsessed with anime, and may or may not buy anime pillows and other goods I hope you don't know... Anyway, many of those kinds of people seem deranged - and just so you know, I don't think Miyazaki-sama thought anime was really a mistake. So in a sense, you could say the weeaboos are the ones who started the perception.

I don't think the stereotype is fair at all to the majority of people who watch anime because I have never met ANYONE who is that obsessed in my life.

Btw, Anyone wanting to give anime a try, watch any one of these:
Code Geass
Death Note
Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood