A certain someone has never heard of "Superbook".
Pat Robertson commissioned Tatsunoko Productions - responsible for "Marine Boy" and "Science Ninja Team Gatchaman", a.k.a. "Battle of the Planets" - to make a Christian themed animated series for his Christian Broadcasting Network in 1981.
So successful was it, people wanted to see more of this exotic new animation, thus a new market was born for existing anime to be dubbed into English for showing in the US: from "Sailor Moon", "Tenchi Muyo" etc. to "Cardcaptors"; even the second series of "The Big O" was due to it being more successful in America than Japan: thus the need was fulfilled.
The US became the second biggest market for Anime outside of Japan: to the extent that, not long after it's airing in Japan, the dubbed version of "CardCaptor Sakura: Clear Card" is streamed by Crunchyroll. The demand is there.
Hentai.
You have a right-wing Fundamentalist Christain to thank for it's ultimate popularity: outside of Japan.
"Highschool of the Dead" was massive in the US: to the extent that George A. Romero realised that there was something he hadn't considered: Fanservice. "HotD" creator Shoji Sato even did official Doujinshi.
Just consider that, next time you watch "Dragonbollocks Zed", OP. The Irony levels are OVER 9000!
...done and done, The Crimson Ghost. b^_^d
