Anyone else feel like anime might just be a cheap marketing tool to make Japanese more appealing? Like what if it's not as good as everyone says it is?

Depends really. Anime (or anime-like productions) has been known in Europe for decades and while I'm aware of the existence of some of the more popular anime shows (Dragon Ball, Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Attack on Titan, My Hero Academia, etc.) I've never been interested in watching them. That might also be partly because they seem so formulaic to me, at least compared to cartoons from the West. I've seen some non-anime productions from Japan which I thought were more interesting, like Akira or Ghost in the Shell. I'd say what piqued my interest in the Japanese language was the culture - the music, the history and what I've heard of the Japanese people. That might just be down to how it's all been portrayed.