I find it depends on the series, some cartoons try to be Anime, and they fall flat on their face, I accidentally discovered Oban Star Racers on ITV2 one morning and I think it's ace, although from what I understand it's been made by an array of different nations from around the globe, and Japan is one of them (I think Yoko Kanno does the music too). I recently started watching a series on ITV2 called Skyland, it's similar to Skies Of Arcadia (DC game) in style and uses cell-shaded 3D animation. It looks like it's trying to mimic Anime, and at the moment I'm undecided if it's good or not, I enjoy it, looks nice, it has plot progression, but something about it doesn't gel.
I don't know how to address the whole CG thing, looking at it objectively it is an animation technique for anyone to use, and Anime can be evolving to incorporate it. Personally though, I feel it's not quite right, off the top of my head Karas is the only Anime to use CG well, Gonzo use it quite a lot in their work these days, but I feel most of the time it's only being used because it's there and it often doesn't turn out well.
I started watching Anime a good 10 years ago, when Akira was the top dog, and I still prefer most of the older Anime (admittedly mostly OAV's and films) like Dominion, Patlabor 1&2, 3x3 Eyes, Gunsmith Cats, Tenchi, Macross. These days I feel there's a definite shift overall, and while I still enjoy a lot of recent releases (FMA, Genshiken, Naruto to name few), I still go back to watch the older titles as I feel they're a better package overall, Anime these days is becoming too complex and too full of itself.
I prefer them to be different, evolution between the two is good, but I like to have the choice, the old X-Men cartoon was very western and ace, the new Anime-esque one was poor.
I could go on about this subject all day, as it's something that's been bugging me for a while, so I'll leave it as I prefer the difference and choice.
