Irresistible Mistakes | Go Okubo Main Story Review: I Slept With the Bartender?!

I misjudged Go in my first review of Irresistible Mistakes, I was fooled by yet another Voltage Inc. character bio, you’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now, but nope… Voltage has Go Okubo billed as a “sweetheart con artist”, which couldn’t have been further from the truth and it’s because of this misleading bio that I almost passed up on one of the best routes in the game.

I went into this route expecting it to fail, but after playing that first chapter I was singing a completely different tune! Go blew Toshiaki’s route out of the water and I am not ashamed to admit that this is my new favorite (we’ll see how I feel after I play Toma’s route 😉 )! 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.

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What to do when you sleep with a stranger?!

Like in the other routes the MC can’t remember much about her one night stand with Go, so she goes down to Storm Bar to straighten everything out. To her chagrin, she and Go did indeed do the deed the night before. While Go is completely fine with what happened and even seems to show genuine interest in the MC, convinces him to forget that the whole thing even happened. Dude seems upset by the MC sweeping everything under the rug, but agrees because he is a decent human being.

After that the MC is put on a new project at work, coming up with an ad campaign for an upcoming music festival featuring a popular indie band called High Voltage (IDK if this was a name drop for Voltage Inc. or not, but I let the name pass). As luck would have it in addition to his bartender gig at Storm, Go is also the lyricist for the band. So, despite her vow to put everything behind her, the MC finds herself working closely with Go and the rest of the band. Over the course of the project, the MC and Go grow closer to one another and begin seeing one another outside of work.

Unlike Toma, Toshiaki, and Tachibana; Go isn’t an employee at Addison and Rhodes so the relationship between the two progresses a bit differently. Since they don’t work together there’s really no reason for Go and the MC not to see each other, both the MC and Go display genuine interest in one another from the start, granted Go’s feelings are a bit hard to pin down at first. But, the MC is definitely interested in Go rather early on, though she keeps it 100% professional whenever they have to interact with one another for work.

Outside of the office is a completely different story, with the pair meeting up on a number of occasions, even spending the night with one another at the MC’s apartment (twice), but there’s a lot of one step forward, two steps back going on with the overall romantic progression from both sides. Go is content with leaving their relationship casual, openly flirting with other women at the bar and generally being a giant tease, but, he does go out of his way to be especially kind to the MC, which hints that his feelings for the MC are more than just platonic. On the flip side, the MC is charmed by Go’s mature, thoughtful demeanor and good looks, however, whenever she gets too close he immediately puts up a wall, which is the driving force behind most of their romantic conflict.

While the majority of the route focuses on the developing relationship between the MC and Go, there is a secondary conflict that deals with Go’s involvement with High Voltage. Despite having worked with the band for years, Go is reluctant to become an official member of the band, instead preferring to just stay on as a lyricist. This is in part due to his involvement with another indie band years ago, that caused him to give up on his passion for music. He and his former band mates didn’t part on the best of terms so Go is reluctant to open himself up to another band only to get snubbed. Throughout the route the MC encourages Go to pursue his dreams by giving him the push he needs to confront his problems head on rather than pushing down his feelings.

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The morning after sleeping with a stranger…

As I mentioned earlier, I went into this route expecting to hate Go, Voltage did the whole young, flirty bartender thing with Kiyoto from In Your Arms Tonight and at first Go seems like another case of copy pasta… Go Okubo is the youngest love interest in the game, while the other guys are in their thirties, Go is only 24 year old, so I was expecting a lot of unnecessary age related conflict. That’s just what Voltage does, so imagine my surprise when they didn’t even bring up the age difference until late in the route and even then it was just a passing comment. Thank the otome gods!!

Outwardly, Go is charming, handsome, and despite his young age surprisingly mature, his very presence puts people at ease. His natural charm and good looks make him popular among the male and female patrons of the bar where he works. All he has to do is flash that sweet smile and women are putty in his hands, which I suppose was what Voltage was getting at with the whole “sweetheart con-artist” character bio.

But, Go doesn’t actually go out of his way to pick up girls, they literally throw themselves at him and who wouldn’t… he’s absolutely gorgeous! He has fans from Hi-Vol propositioning him after concerts all the time and at the bar, women are sliding him their numbers between drinks, and while he’s always up for a bit of momentary pleasure, he doesn’t act like your run of the mill flirty character. He never actually seems to be invested in his flirting activities, sure he smiles and says whatever women want to hear, but, he isn’t emotionally connected to the women he sleeps with. Whenever someone tries to get close to him he easily evades their advances or flat out turns them down. 

But that’s just one side of his personality, Go is strangely empathetic, often putting the needs of others above his own. He goes out of his way to make sure that those around him aren’t inconvenienced. At first I thought Go was just really good at reading people because of his bartender job, but Go is just really attuned to the feelings of others. Sure, he can be a bit of a tease, but he never pushes his own feelings on another person, if they are uncomfortable with his advances he backs off. In fact, he’s almost too considerate, early on in the route he and the MC are on seperate platforms at the train station.

He see’s her and tries to tell her goodnight, but she can’t hear him because he’s too far away, so homeboy crosses the track just to tell her good night… missing his train in the process. With no other way to get home he starts walking home in the pouring rain! When the MC asked him why he did all that just to say goodnight he says he didn’t want her to feel awkward… WHAT?! I’ve heard of selfless people, but I don’t know anyone that would miss a train just to make sure they told someone goodnight… But, that’s not all, there are several instances throughout the route that make the MC question just what kind of man Go really is, because his actions and his words just don’t match up.

That’s when homeboy lets slip that he doesn’t believe in long term relationships with other people. For him getting close to people just opens you up to more heartbreak later on, so it’s better to just have fun while you can and cut out before things turn sour… or they leave you. So, he throws himself into one meaningless relationship after another to keep himself from getting hurt, which on paper isn’t necessarily a bad idea. However, living like that takes a toll on a person, it’s lonely, hell it’s downright empty, a point that the MC makes on a number of occasions.

You can’t just go through life suppressing your feelings like that, it’s not healthy, but he figures that if his partners are having fun than it’s alright. In reality Go is extremely lonely. He lost his parents at a young age, so he went to live with his English grandfather and for a time he was happy. His grandfather encouraged his love of music and for the first time he had a stable home life and a dream. But it was short lived, after his grand father died he was passed around from relative to relative never really getting close to anyone. It wasn’t until he joined a band that he had a place that he could call “home” and friends he could trust, but they kicked him to the curb when he was scouted by a record company in Tokyo.

Bitter and hurt, Go, just gave up on getting close to people, adopting his current apathetic outlook. It’s only after he meets the MC that he realizes that it’s okay to let people in. I have to give it to the MC in this route, she was a trooper, not only does she put up with Go’s baggage, but she takes an active role in his character development.

Even before she acknowledges her feelings for Go, she calls him on his BS, taking the time to make sure that his needs are being taken care of, by giving him a safe space to be himself. She is one of the few people to see beyond his smile to the pain and hurt he keeps hidden inside and rather than judging him for being the way he is, she just stays by his side. She sees him for the man he really is and she accepts him, warts and all…

In turn helping Go helps her come to terms with her own shortcomings. There’s a mini story arc where the MC is taken off of a work project in favor of a younger member of the staff. She begins to doubt herself and her abilities, until Go steps in and gives her the push she needs to pick herself up again. Usually it’s the MC that takes a supportive role in the development of her chosen love interest, so it was nice to see the roles reversed a bit in this route.

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Do I Recommend This Route?

I’m not usually a fan of flirty types, but Voltage did a great job of making Go’s antics endearing rather than cliché, because they balanced out his personality. He isn’t just a one trick pony, Voltage fleshed him out gave him a solid backstory and justified his actions throughout the route rather than squeezing his redemption arch into the last two or three chapters.

Both the romantic aspects of the route and Go’s personal conflict were handled well. Rather than saying one was better than the other, both were given an equal amount of importance in the overall narrative. The romance while a bit frustrating at times was compelling and Voltage did a great job letting the relationship unfold naturally. Instead of making the one night stand the focal point of their relationship, it’s the MC’s desire to understand Go that drives the progression of their relationship. Even when their drunken night of passion is brought up, it’s brief only serving to highlight some aspect of Go’s personality.

Overall, this was a great route and one of the best in the game, worth every penny! I have no complaints, Go was a well rounded character and Voltage did a fantastic job of balancing the positive and negative aspects of his personality. This is my new favorite route and I highly recommend giving it a try!

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