Rose tinted glasses. I too have watched anime since I was a kid and the quality of what they’re making in the last few years beats what I grew up with. Animation quality, plot complexity and diversity, soundtracks, voice acting - everything is as good or better. Compare anime that have been remade, like Fruits Basket. The recent version is vastly superior.
Look at the top 50 anime on MyAnimeList, probably the most used anime site. (https://myanimelist.net/topanime.php). This would be the equivalent of IMDb top 250.
- pre 2005 - 8
- 2006-10 - 5
- 2011-15 - 10
- 2016 to date - 27
You’d expect some recency bias but not to this extent unless recent anime was really good. I’ve seen most of these and they certainly deserve to be up there.
Look, I don’t doubt that you enjoyed shows from when you were a kid. I was obsessed with dragon ball z as a kid. But try watching it now, it’s just not that good. Nostalgia makes them better in our memories than they actually were.