>>11812601
I don't think that's true at all.
DBZ was always seen as a very different thing from regular cartoons, it literally kickstarted Toonami for christ's sake and actual cartoons would constantly make fun of how ridiculous and different it was.
Pokemon the show is what I'd argue actually broke the barrier between cartoons and anime, since other than the animation style it's pretty indistinguishable structurally from any kids cartoon out at the time.
DBZ made anime accessible to a western audience, much like FF7 did to JRPGs.
Pokemon was straight up not seen as anime and to this day you'll still see some fans of the show who swear by that to a certain degree.