From Wikipedia: Seinen manga (青年漫画^?) is manga marketed to a male audience aged roughly 17 on into their 40s. In Japanese, the word seinen means “young man” or “young men.”

Hanayamata and Girls und Panzer are both of the seinien genre. They are both, as the title of the post implies, shows about cute girls doing cute things.

Hanayamata follows Naru Sekiya who feels average and doesn’t feel like she has much going for her until she meets a new transfer student from America (Hana N. Fountainstand) and they start a Yosakoi dance club at school. The show then follows them as they, practice, recruit members, and get ready for the big Yosakoi competition.

There is nothing inherently bad about the show. It’s cute. The story is what you’d expect and the characters are fairly standard, but not bad. Despite it not being all that remarkable I enjoyed the show.

Attention Parents: There is nothing objectionable in this show.

I like the OP:

Girls und Panzer is a show that depicts tank warfare as a sport for high school girls. Referred to as “sensha-dō” aka “the way of the tank” is a popular martial art where teams of high school girls operate and fight with WWII era tanks. They live and go to school on Academy Ships which are large carriers that support an entire community.

The story follows  Miho Nishizumi. A girl from a prominent “tankery”

family who has just transferred to a new school that doesn’t have a “tankery” program any longer. Tankery, needless to say, is revived and Miho is roped into taking tankery as an elective course. They then do the predictable things: get tanks, get members, train, and compete until the final big event.

It is a fun show. It is tanks fights with cute girls. The supporting teams are what made the show fun for me.

The volleyball team

The history club team

The video gamers team

The Student council team

The supporting team are a laugh and give the show some extra character. Is the show innovative or outstanding? No, it’s fun. Just mindless fun.

Attention Parents: There is nothing objectionable.

And there is dancing…

So what makes this Seinen? I guess it is the market it appeals to: young men. Both of these shows follow teen girls which I guess is what the appeal is. The shows themselves are not overtly sexual, but the art that fans make after the fact are more so:

It may not be the show that one finds objectionable, but the fan’s reaction to the show. Then again, this is the internet. If someone can think it they will. This applies to these shows as well.

Watch the shows. They’re cute and fun. Just don’t search Google images about the shows you enjoy.