This is becoming a gyaru-heavy season, and we’re blessed for it. You Were Experienced, I Was Not: Our Dating Story (Keiken Zumi na Kimi to, Keiken Zero na Ore ga, Otsukiai Suru Hanashi or You Were Experienced, I Wasn’t, And This is How We Started Dating) is a fairly long title, so we’ll be using: You Were Experienced, I Was Not. We’re given a cute love story about a nerd, who spends most of his free time watching live streams, asking out a gyaru idol from his school. Against all odds, she agrees.
We’ll see how their love story turns out when the series premieres in October 2023. We have a trailer to keep us company until then.
The fine animators at studio ENGI have set up a home page to promote You Were Experienced, I Was Not. Additionally, an official Twitter page is active to keep fans and potential viewers up to date with series announcements. Visitors can find the key art and character descriptions on those websites.
Kun, the voice actor behind the fictional streamer Ken, is an actual streamer. For those who want to enjoy the same content Ryuto watches, he can be found on Twitter.
The Experienced Gyaru
You Were Experienced, I Was Not follows a nerd and a gyaru discovering that they have more in common than they first thought. Ryuto Kashima (voiced by Natsuki Hanae) is part of the out crowd. He has few friends and blends into the background. His friends Yusuke Ijichi (voiced by Fukushi Ochiai) and Ren Nishina (voiced by Daisuke Sakaguchi) win a contest made between the three, and compel Ryuto to confess to his crush. They expect him to fail and know what it’s like to hit “rock bottom.” They received bad test scores, whereas Ryuto passed, and they’re somewhat bitter. Ryuta and his friends spent too much time watching the live streamer Ken (voiced by Kun).
Runa Shirakawa (voiced by Saori Onishi) is a very popular gyaru at their school. Ryuto recently gained a small crush on her when she talked to him. He knew there was no chance of actually dating her, but he still confided in his friends. Despite this reality, Ryuto confessed to Runa because of their bet. She has a reputation for going out with many different guys, and even going all the way to the bedroom. Even so, he harbors a crush on her.
To Ryuto’s surprise, Runa agrees to go out with him. Her reason was simple: she was free at the time. Although he was waiting for the “bad end” to his confession, Runa is more optimistic and open to the possibilities. She then invited him back to her place, and then to her room, so they could do lewd things. Ryuto got the “good end” to his confession all right. Despite that, he resisted and suggested that they do things properly and not just hop into bed. Things will only get better from there.
You Were Experienced, I Was Not Origins
Makiko Nagaoka is writing and magako is illustrating You Were Experienced, I Was Not for its light novel iteration. Fujimi Shobo began publishing the series in its Fujimi Fantasia Bunko imprint on September 19th, 2020. They have since released six volumes for fans to collect and read.
Square Enix is working to adapt this gyaru love story to manga format with Noyama Carpaccio acting as the artist. Square Enix has since released three volumes in the Gangan Online magazine as of February 23rd, 2022.
Runa is a cute gyaru and everything, but I don’t think she tops Marin Kitagawa as best recent gyaru. The J-List shop has a few items that can help convince everyone. The Marin Kitagawa 1/7 Figure Swimsuit Ver. from the My Dress-Up Darling section is now available for pre-order.
Are you looking forward to the You Were Experienced, I Was Not anime adaptation? Have any of your romantic confessions gone just as well for you as Ryuto’s had done for him? Do you watch so many live streams that your grades have been negatively impacted? Let us know in the comments below.
