You Were Experienced, I Was Not: Our Dating Story
You Were Experienced, I Was Not: Our Dating Story, also known as KimiZero for short, is a Japanese light novel series written by Makiko Nagaoka and illustrated by magako. The series published ten volumes under Fujimi Shobo's Fujimi Fantasia Bunko imprint from September 2020 to March 2025. A manga adaptation by Noyama Carpaccio began serialization in Square Enix's Gangan Online web service in February 2022. An anime television series adaptation produced by ENGI aired from October to December 2023.
Premise
As a punishment for losing a game, Ryūto Kashima, a gloomy high school boy, is forced to confess his love to Runa Shirakawa, a beautiful girl who is at the top of the school pecking order and admired by everyone. The two end up going out simply because Runa happened to not be in a relationship. After Ryūto asks her out, Runa brings him to her room, where they discover that they have drastically different ideas of how they should date. The two are different in just about everything, from their friends, to personalities and hobbies. Nevertheless, they surprise each other by their differences every day, learn to accept the other for who they are, and gradually connect with each other.Characters
;Ryūto Kashima;Runa Shirakawa
;Maria Kurose
;Nikoru Yamana
;Akari Tanikita
;Yūsuke Ijichi
;Ren Nishina
;Shūgo Sekiya
;Ken
Media
Light novels
Written by Makiko Nagaoka with illustrations by magako, the series began publication under Fujimi Shobo's Fujimi Fantasia Bunko imprint on September 19, 2020. A promotional video was released on Kadokawa's official YouTube channel on July 15, 2021, to promote the series, featuring Momo Asakura as Runa Shirakawa. The series ended with the release of its tenth volume in March 2025.In September 2023, J-Novel Club announced that they licensed the novels for English publication.
Manga
A manga adaptation illustrated by Noyama Carpaccio began serialization in Square Enix's Gangan Online web service on February 23, 2022. As of January 2026, nine tankōbon volumes have been released. In June 2023, Square Enix began to publish the series in English on their Manga UP! Global service.Anime
On September 9, 2022, an anime television series adaptation was announced. The anime is produced by ENGI and directed by Hideaki Ōba, with Hiroko Fukuda overseeing series' scripts, Yosuke Itō designing the characters, and Kei Haneoka composing the music. It aired from October 6 to December 22, 2023, on AT-X and other networks. The opening theme song is "Love You Tender!" by Maaya Uchida, while the ending theme song is "Aikotoba" by rock band AliA. Crunchyroll licensed the series under the title Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and the Inexperienced Me. Muse Communication licensed the series in Southeast Asia.Reception
The series both the anime and manga adaptation as well as the light novel received mixed reviews from various critics.Caitlin Moore wrote that the anime is somehow both "ambitious" and "completely lacking in ambition". She noted that the concepts are "nice on paper", but the execution was "lacking", noting that both Ryuto and Runa have a "personality of wallpaper paste". She adds that the series is openly about sex. Still, the protagonists have "very little chemistry outside of a couple of scenes" and writers try to "inject some tawdry drama" by inserting a love triangle between Runa and Maria. She concluded that the anime was "fine".
Sean Gaffney of A Case Suitable for Treatment praises the first volume of the light novel for sticking to its theme of "slut-shaming is bad” but noted that the couple's progression is the "least interesting part of the series so far" noting that "Just because you’re not having sex doesn’t mean that hand-holding should take 60 pages."