Anime feels like it's always been a part of my life even though I never watched much of it before recently.
I used to, and still am but not as much, HUGE on YouTube. And most of the youtubers I watched would drop anime references or talk about an anime for jokes, and I eventually began getting the gist of some shows before ever watching them, such as JoJos, DragonBall Z, MHA, Hunter x Hunter, ect.
Other than YouTube, the show that most directly contributed to me getting into anime was Evangelion. It was one of the few anime series at the time I actually watched more than 1 episode of or watched more than just snippets from by stopping in the living room and seeing my sister watching an anime. I got into it because I looked it up and saw it's amazing reviews, and wanted to try it out with my sister, and we both got HOOKED.
The entire show made me think about if there were other masterpieces like this one out there, and if there were, I HAD to see them.
Problem was, my attention span was dogshit. I watched YouTube mainly because it didn't require me to focus my attention for a long period of time. But I was motivated by that idea of shows as good as Evangelion being out there, so I forced myself to sit down to finish any episode I started on, and to not watch another show unless I finished the one I was on if it was good. Eventually my attention span began getting better, and I was even watching movies by my own will at times, which I never did before.
And now I can binge entire seasons in 2 days or less. AOT was my most recent binge, I finished season 1 in 2 days, which past me would have been disgusted and shocked at.
(Edit: as for why I love anime, it's the lack of restraint it has. Anime doesn't seem to be afraid to be anything it wants, and you get unashamedly weird shit. Depending on the anime, it can be a good or bad thing, but it really can make for some of the most beautiful storytelling out there.)