different cultures are different, your japanese coworker calling all animated works anime does not mean western society doesn't have different words for different styles of art. In japan the Simpsons might be an anime, but if the US you asked someone "is the simpsons a cartoon or an anime" guess what, they're going to say cartoon.homie, anime means anything animated, my japanese coworker (born and raised in japan) unironically says her favorite anime is frozen. First time i heard it I thought she was doing a cory in the house is the best anime meme but nah, anime is just shorthand for animation in general, spongebob counts and so does any 3d cutscene.