I am going to put this follow-up argument in a reply, just because I think the above is neatly closed in itself. However I also want to argue, why for Anime viewers it does not feel weird or forced to view Anime characters as older as theyä technically are:

If you see your high school crush for the first time in 10 years and you feel the hots hitting you again, I don't think you have to be afraid to be a pedophile, because your attraction to a person originates from experiences with their underage self. You are attracted to a person which was the same age as you and by the continuity of the self you still identify with your younger self.

The same thing applies to Anime characters. People that watch Anime usually start watching Anime when they were teenagers. At this time they felt attracted to a character that then was the same age as them. When they now still feel that attraction, they do so because they still identify with their younger self. Unfortunately in contrast to your high school crush, where this mechanism felt very natural, the Anime character has not aged along them, making it now technically pedophilia.

You might now interpose "Yeah, I can see that with the Anime characters when you were younger. But what about the anime characters you watch now? They are clearly younger!". I again want to apply a continuity argument. I have been watching Anime since I was 14, roughly on a monthly basis. Every month I got the reassurance: Last month these characters I see were roughly my age, so surely one month later they still are. I am now in my mid 20s. And yet, I don't feel a gaping age difference between me and the characters. I guess, in my mind Anime characters are hardwired to be my age by default. In my mind, anime characters (even new ones airing now) have always naturally aged with me.