This video is a short but good watch on a phenomenon that ties into this - series that focus more on their characters' writing rather than their plot tend to attract a lot of these young obsessive types. Naturally, if you write a good character, people will watch your slop just to see that character - it doesn't matter how good or bad the rest of the show is (see: Alastor from Hazbin Hotel, Jax from The Amazing Digital Circus, whatever other shit tweens are into).
If you put the focus on characters' stories and dynamics with each other, then
of course the resulting fandom will be a circlejerk of people shipping anyone and everyone together and not giving a damn about the plot. This happened with Jujutsu Kaisen (Suguru Geto and Satoru Gojo). I also cannot ignore the elephant in the room - it happened with My Hero Academia. People were convinced Midoriya and Bakugou were gay, and threw shitfits online when the author ignored shipping culture (as should be done) and concluded the series the way he wanted.
If you're an animator and want to find success in today's online environment, the formula is simple. Write a quirky character and add homoerotic subtext with another character, and people will flock to your series instantly, no matter how bland the plot.
