European influence in anime

It's a curious thing to note how widespread European culture influences anime. From the numerous stories set in pseudo-Victorian England, to the multitudes of characters in "Lolita" fashion, Christian symbolism and inversion, to the medieval Europe locales of many high fantasy stories, one cannot get away from it. To a Westerner, it's not the most noticeable until it is pointed out, as Western culture is our norm, what we think of as our baseline. But it's so pervasive in media that comes from non-Western cultures as well -- perhaps due to the nature of colonialism and how it overrides native cultures until there's barely anything left. At least, that's my guess as to where it started. And it's continued because it's considered to be "normal" and "standard", and nobody bats an eye at it. This isn't to say that I hate any of the European-influenced works that I mentioned -- far from it. It's important, though, to look at all the media we consume with a critical eye and understand where it's coming from.