Irresistible Mistakes | Shunichiro Tachibana Main Story Review: I Slept With My Boss?!

After a night of heavy drinking, the MC discovers that she slept with her boss, Creative Director, Shunichiro Tachibana. Embarrassed and unable to remember the sexual encounter, she tries to put the whole affair behind her, but when she’s assigned to work with him on a high profile ad campaign, she finds that she can’t help but remember their night of drunken passion. Things start to look up for our heroine when Tachibana seemingly reciprocates her feelings, but is it love or is he just looking for a fling?

I was genuinely surprised by this route and by Tachibana, Voltage definitely made the one night stand premise seem way more sordid in the promotional material, than it was in the actual route. So, I was kind of expecting something along the lines of one of those cheesy soap operas my Nana likes to watch every day, but this wasn’t anything like that. If you want a general overview of Irresistible Mistakes, click HERE, it’s covers the basic premise of the game and will include links to the other character reviews I will write for the game. 

Where to Play: Google Play | App Store | Amazon App Store

What to do when you sleep with your boss?!

Voltage describes Shunichiro Tachibana as a “debonair scoundrel”, but that is simply not the case at all, at the very least not in the literal sense of the phrase. Tachibana is a man that knows what he wants and when he sets his sights on something he doesn’t hold back. So if that’s what it means to be a scoundrel then I guess he is… Like most, if not all of Voltage Inc.’s alpha male types, Tachibana is the kind of man that commands attention, men want to be him and women want to have him, he just exudes this inner charisma that attracts people to him.

So, I completely understand why the MC idolizes the guy so much in the beginning of the route, even before they slept together, Tachibana was a respected senior executive at Addison & Rhodes. While they’d never actually spoken before their one night stand, the MC was drawn to his passion for his work, she fell in love with the idea of the man and not the actual man himself. For an office worker like her, a man of Tachibana’s status was so out of reach that she never in her wildest dreams imagined that she would be able to stand by his side as an equal, it’s only after they sleep together that first time that she discovers that he is much more obtainable than she could have ever dreamed possible.

This isn’t a scandalous office romance story between a high ranking executive and his subordinate (okay, well it kind of is), it’s a story of a woman falling in love with the man Tachibana really is, not just the Creative Director Tachibana, but Shunichiro Tachibana. Now, while her methods may be questionable at best, sleeping with your boss is not encouraged, even if it was only just a drunken one night stand, the MC’s honest and steadfast personality is ultimately what made this story really work.

She doesn’t have any ulterior motives for getting to know Tachibana, in fact even when she was piss drunk and in a hotel room with the guy, she didn’t try to make a pass at him, instead she just talked to him. She told him how much she idolized him and how his work spoke to her on an emotional level, which I imagine was a huge turn on for the guy since they did the deed not long after. But, at that point, even though she said she loved him, I don’t think it was a romantic love, maybe on some level it was, I mean, to idolize someone is to love them, but, her feelings were much purer than that.

Tachibana is the reason the MC wanted to pursue a career in advertising, so of course she is grateful for him and his work, so when she spends the first few chapters freaking out about sleeping with the guy, I couldn’t find it in me to condemn her for acting that way. This is her idol, the man she’d looked up to for so long, and their first encounter is a one night stand… I’d have been horrified!

So while some folks will probably label the MC as weak willed and skittish, I see her as one of the more relatable Voltage MCs, not because she’s some sassy badass, but because she’s honest and her actions throughout the route while a bit over the top at times, felt natural. As for Tachibana’s role in the whole thing, I don’t really blame him for what happened either. The situation is messy, there’s no doubt about that and there are a million and one ways this situation could have gone sideways, especially when alcohol is involved. What if Tachibana wasn’t her boss, what if he was some creep that took advantage of her in that vulnerable state?

What if he’d used that night to blackmail her? If this wasn’t an otome game, I’m pretty sure that this situation could easily have turned into an episode of Law and Order SVU. So, I have mixed feelings about Voltage romanticizing drunken one night stands, because they don’t always turn out so well. Thankfully Tachibana is much more respectable than that and I appreciate Voltage not making him into a villain, since he was just as vulnerable as the MC was, he just got swept up in the heat of the moment.

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The morning after sleeping with your boss…

This route kind of reminded me of one of Voltage’s older games, Office Secrets, like that game, the focus is split between the work relationship between the MC and her chosen love interest and the romantic relationship. I know a lot of you are wondering why I didn’t choose Our Two Bedroom Story, since it also deals with forbidden office romance, to that I say… It’s my prerogative~ 

But, all jokes aside, the relationship between the MC and Tachibana definitely reminded me of Toranosuke Hajime’s route from Office Secrets, probably because they are both charismatic businessmen with a tendency to tease their MCs mercilessly! While Tachibana is a decent guy deep down, he delights in saying suggestive things to her in the office, more times than not in front of other coworkers.

Of course no one else ever catches wind of what he’s doing, but the MC’s poor little heart just can’t handle it and even I had a few “I can’t believe he just said that” moments. He is a smooth, sneaky son of a gun, like damn! Tachibana has the MC wrapped around his little finger and he quite enjoys the thrill of it all. And I’d be lying if I said the scandalous way he seduces her isn’t sexy as hell, no, scratch that, Tachibana is sexy as hell! In the office he’s composed and ambitious, but in private… let’s just say he knows how to push all the right buttons!

This route is full of unrestrained sexual tension, but, despite an obvious attraction between the two and a handful of sexual encounters, Tachibana doesn’t really attempt to define their relationship as anything more than physical and the MC doesn’t make him clarify anything either. Their relationship is at a bit of an impasse, the MC wants the relationship to develop into something more, while Tachibana seems to be content with the way things are going so far and a lot of that has to do with some obligations he has in his personal life.

Since the story is told from the MC’s prospective, we don’t really know how Tachibana feels about the MC, whether he sees her as just a booty call or as a potential lover, we just have her side of things, we see her agonizing over the situation to the point that it starts to take a toll on her mentally.  As cliché as office romance stories are, this one does a pretty good job of showing just how much of a strain a relationship like this can have on a person, sure you know that things will ultimately work out between the pair, but the emotional build up is very well done.

There were several points throughout the route where I asked myself, what it was that Tachibana wanted from the MC? But, even though I doubted his intentions, he never really seemed like he was stringing the MC along for kicks and giggles. Despite all his swagger, Tachibana is really quite earnest, though to be fair, he does his best to hide that fact from everyone. Tachibana isn’t the type of person to rely on others for support, he’d much rather just shoulder everything on his own, so the fact that he relies on the MC both professionally and personally, speaks volumes about his true feelings for her.

He sees himself in the MC, her strong sense of self worth and her passion for her work is ultimately what leads him to develop feelings for her. He’s not a man that would put up with drama of an office affair for fun, so it stands to reason that his feelings for the MC are much more genuine than what anyone could have imagined.

Shunichiro Tachibana isn’t a man that does things by half measures, he gives his all in everything he does, whether it’s a 15 second soda commercial proposal for work or the seduction of the woman he loves. I misunderstood Tachibana, he isn’t a scoundrel, nor is he a sadistic boss preying on a lowly subordinate, Tachibana is a kind, hardworking man with a clear vision of the future.

He doesn’t wait for things to happen, he makes them happen with his own two hands and when he sees something or someone with potential he helps them uncover their true worth.  Their relationship might have started with a drunken one night stand, but as they spend time together and get to know one another, the situation snowballs into something… more lasting and pure.

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Do I Recommend Shunichiro’s Route?

Voltage tricked me with this game, I went in expecting it to be all risque, but instead they pretty much played everything by the book. Instead of racy dialogue and sexual hi-jinks, Irresistible Mistakes is rather tame… Don’t get me wrong there are plenty of steamy sexual encounters between the MC and her hunky boss, but it’s much more intimate than they’d have you believe. Even the one night stand, which the MC originally sees as the biggest mistake of her life, becomes a fond memory (the bits she can actually remember that is). So, if like me you were expecting something sordid, this is not the game for you. But, if you are looking for sweet romance between two consenting adults than Irresistible Mistakes is definitely worth your time.

I absolutely loved this route so much, Voltage did an excellent job handling such a “mature” topic and I really felt that everything developed in a very organic and wholesome way. While I did have a few issues with the premise early on, I couldn’t have been more pleased with the way things turned out in both endings! I’m curious to see how the relationship between the MC and Tachibana progresses from this point forward and I’ll probably purchase the rest of his stories when they are released. Also if you want to know what Tachibana was thinking during the events of the main story, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND BUYING HIS POV STORY! Seriously… do it!

Side note: I am head over heels in love with the MC’s childhood friend Natsume, he is everything I want and more! Not only is he capable at his job, shrewd and business minded, but he’s honest and to the point. He doesn’t play games, he’s as straightforward as they come, both in his private life and professional life. Plus, the fact that he and the MC have known each other since they were in diapers, kind of solidifies him as her ideal match in my mind… He needs to have his own route or something!

Overall, I really enjoyed this route! I was a little worried that Irresistible Mistakes wouldn’t live up to all the hype, Voltage has been known to drop the ball on stories like this… But, I was genuinely surprised at how naturally everything was handled and Tachibana… *fans self* is perfection!! This was a fantastic introduction to the game and I look forward to playing the other routes once they are released!! 

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