Fall couldn’t have been better with this romance anime. Our Dating Story has just taken over all the romance for the fall of 2023 and has become the most-viewed romance anime of the fall of 2023 on Crunchyroll. This anime provides everything that we look for in a romance anime.
So, this romance anime is based on a beautiful light novel written by Makiko Nagaoka and illustrated by Makako. This novel had a manga adaptation in February of last year. The animation studio adapting this is ENGI, the studio behind titles such as Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out, The Detective Is Already Dead, and others.
You can definitely see that the animation looks similar to both of these shows, which looks great. However, the animation and character designs are not the only things this anime shows off; it is more than this. So, in this article, we are going to take a look at why it has become the most-viewed romance anime of fall 2023 on Crunchyroll.
What’s So Special About Our Dating Story that it’s the Most-Watched Anime on Crunchyroll Right Now?
Our Dating Story looks set to be a real killer romance story of opposites attract as well as a love story, in which one helps out the other not only to overcome a troublesome past but also to develop further and find a level of happiness they’ve only ever dreamed of.
We’re in for a show that has the whole sweet romance thing down and a bit of fun thrown in there as well, but beneath this, it goes to a much deeper level. Deeper levels that we may possibly have one of the most wholesome shows of the entire year on our hands here.
The story revolves around Ryuto Kashima. He’s your typical-looking NPC background character. He’s described as someone who is very melancholy, not popular at all, and maybe a bit of a loser, and it’s said that he’s a very gloomy high school kid.
There is nothing really new with this character trope. I think his character isn’t, you know, to blow us away or anything like that, but to help the story progresses. He’s going to be the typical nice guy, I believe.
Can be a Contender for Anime Girl of the Year
So this completely unordinary background character loses a bet and is dared to ask out a girl called Runa Shirakawa, who, of course, is what looks to be the most beautiful and popular girl in the entire school, which ain’t wrong.
Shirakawa is an absolute stunner. She looks like your typical gal character, you know, the cute clothes and accessories. After plucking up the courage to ask this girl out, which is fair play to the dude, confessing and asking a girl out is not an easy task at all, especially when you are complete opposites.
Kashima is at the bottom of the barrel, and Shirakawa is pretty much a goddess. Kashima knows that he is going to get rejected here, but to his complete shock, Shirakawa actually accepts his confession.
She simply accepts because she is available. So, she brings him to her room after school, and that’s where the big shock for our guy happens next. It’s here that Kashima finds out just how completely different the world they are living.
The Huge Night and Day Difference between Female and Male Characters
Shirakawa has invited Kashima back to her to sleep together, yeah. But Kashima’s the typical anime boy here, where he’s like, I don’t want to do this. While Shirakawa is like this, it is completely normal.
She’s just so much more forward and open about the naughtier, the lewd kind of things, whereas Kashima is a totally introverted guy. I mean, he is at the peak of introverts. In this moment, the difference between these two characters is absolutely night and day.
You know, from who they hang out with and how they live their lives, there is next to nothing that they have in common with each other. But nonetheless, it’s these differences that pull the two together, and they begin to relate to one another after accepting their differences.
Instead of focusing on the now and the past, Kashima and Shirakawa look to the future together. I’m all in for this story and from what we have seen in the recent episodes. It’s going to be so-so good.
Shirakawa: Waifu Material
Already, Shirakawa looks set to be the front-runner as waifu of the Season. She’s beautiful, she has a really fun personality, a carefree attitude, yet she’s caring when it matters, and yeah, she’s down with the naughty things.
However, there is so much more to her character than this, which makes me strongly believe that she could actually be a contender for waifu for the entire year. So, looking at her character here, there are minor spoilers about Shirakawa and her past, so do proceed with caution.
Now, this first painted picture of Shirakawa is interesting, but the more we find out about her, the sadder it becomes. Shirakawa is not only the most popular gal in the school but is also one of the most talked about.
There are a lot of nasty rumors floating around about her, such as that she only dates guys for like 2 to 3 months, how she sleeps with them, and then she moves on to the next one in an instant. These rumors are all, of course, false.
Shirakawa’s Background Story Will Make You Feel Sorry for Her.
Shirakawa looks to be a girl who is just looking for love and is hopelessly devoted to the guy that she’s with. Most guys actually describe her as over-the-top and even annoying. So, poor Shirakawa has always put her boyfriend’s happiness first and will do anything to ensure the relationship keeps moving forward.
Of course, this ends up biting her, as these guys only want one thing, and yet, you guessed it, which is to sleep with the crazy beautiful Shirakawa and then ditch her because they don’t want anything to do with the relationship side.
So, Shirakawa has it in her head that putting out straight away is the right and normal thing to do to keep these guys happy so that the relationship will continue to blossom and that eventually they will return this happiness to her, but in actuality, she’s just being used, which I really hate to see.
I think guys like this are the actual scum of the earth, and the whole lad thing in this regard is just straight-out disgusting, but that’s not the topic here. What is the topic? Is that this completely different guy that she’s never been with before?
Voice Actor for the Main Characters.
This bottom-of-the-barrel Kashima is the kind of guy who is going to treat her right, treat her with respect, and, more importantly, treat each of their happiness equally, and I really can’t wait to see this.
So Shirakawa is being voiced by Oonishi Saori, who has voiced all the characters, such as Ais Wallenstein, Don Machi, Amaris from Dr. Stone, Yuki Sumi in Oshi no Ko, the White Queen from Data Bullet, and trust me a lot more roles her performances are always killer.
As for Kashima, he’s being voiced by Hanae Natsuki. He has voiced some major characters, including Tanjiro in Demon Slayer, Masamune from Masamune-Kun Revenge, Falco in Attack on Titan, Ken Kaneki from Tokyo Ghoul, etc.
Where and When to Watch Our Dating Story
Our Dating Story’s first episode aired on Friday, the 6th of October, and it will most likely only last for 12 episodes. As of now, eight episodes have already been aired, and it is airing weekly on Crunchyroll.
The international timings for Our Dating Story is as follows:
- Canada: at 08:30 AM on Friday
- Pacific Time (PST): at 05:30 AM on Friday
- Australian Capital Territory (ACST): at 12:30 AM on Saturday
- Greenwich Standard Time (GMT): at 01:30 PM on Friday
- Japanese Standard Time (JST): At 10:30 PM on Friday
- Korean Standard Time (KST): At 10:30 PM on Friday
Our Dating Story is available to watch on Crunchyroll for selected regions over the globe.
