It is its own medium of entertainment and the content can vary wildly between different intellectual properties depending on the target audience. Pigeon-holing

It is its own medium of entertainment and the content can vary wildly between different intellectual properties depending on the target audience. Pigeon-holing anime as being "for kids only" is like watching a Pixar production and saying that all American movies are "for kids only". The difference between intended audiences is more easily observed when you look at manga (comic books, often adapted to anime if successful) rather than just the animated cartoons, since the language used in manga directly reflects the target demographic. Plenty of manga are directed at an older audience and will use harder, more complicated kanji (Chinese characters), with or without furigana (helper text in a simpler alphabet) than those directed toward children.