Anime covers a much more wider variety of genres compared to American animation, which is almost strictly comedy. A lot of it is more story-heavy and character-driven than the cartoons we usually get.
That said, anime as a whole just isn't really my thing. I never really liked the typical anime art style, and a lot of it is just too bizarre for me. The only anime I love is the Dragon Ball franchise, which is ironically shunned by most hardcore anime fans. That might be why I feel somewhat ashamed of liking the series, but meh.