The entire 'standard human ➔ anime watcher ➔ loli enthusiast ➔ paedophile degenerate' slope of descent seems to be getting awfully well trod around here. Is there some kind of underlying theme that runs through most amine that causes such sexualisation of clearly underage characters? I would be willing to bet that the vast majority of confirmed/strongly suspected paedophile lolcows we have here enjoy/have enjoyed watching anime.
Paedophiles are drawn to cartoons and other children's media because they can find vulnerable child fans to groom, and may obsess over child characters. It's not specific to Japanese cartoons; there are plenty of paedophile furries, like our own @Field Marshal Crappenberg, and Minecraft Youtubers.
Adult consumers of children's media creep us out for a good reason. It's one of the reasons TV Tropes is unpleasant to read.