Love Across the Universe: Dangan Salmon Team

This article was the Featured Article for February 2018

Love Across the Universe: Dangan Salmon Team
Japanese	宇宙一周ラブバラエティ・だんがん紅鮭団
Rōmaji	Uchū isshū rabubaraeti dangan benizake-dan
Translation	Year-round Space Variety Love Show: Dangan Red Salmon Gang
Information
Game Source	Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
Genre	Dating Simulator

Love Across the Universe: Dangan Salmon Team (宇宙一周ラブバラエティ・だんがん紅鮭団) is a bonus mode unlocked after completing Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony.

Like its predecessors, School Mode and Island Mode, this bonus mode follows an alternate reality version of the main plot in which there is no Killing Game, and instead allows the protagonist to take their fellow students on dates and complete their Free Time Event paths. Unlike its predecessors, Love Across the Universe does not have a resource gathering component, instead featuring the ability to play in the Casino.

Introduction

Introduction Transcript
	Shuichi! Are you okay!? Hey, Shuichi!
	Shuichi...? ...That's me. Kaede is calling my name... Ah...where am I...? What am I doing here?
	I remember...I was on my way to school, like always... When suddenly, I... I was pushed into a car... Before I even figured out what was happening, I lost consciousness. ...That's right, this is the Ultimate Academy, and we... We are... the 16 high school students with Ultimate talents. And then... The Monokubs... They ordered us to investigate the grounds.
	Was that the bell!?
	Kaede, look at the monitor!
	Hiiii! Thanks for bear-ing with us!
	...
	Kept you bastards waiting, huh!?
	Everyone, make your way to the gym please.
	The opening ceremony can finally begin!
	Phew! We finally finished our preparations!
	...You do realize you just read your lines backwards, don't you?
	So long! Bear-well!
	Gym...? Opening ceremony? Kaede...what should we do?
	What should we do? Go, of course. Everyone else is probably doing the same thing.
	True, but...I'm a little worried about this... Honestly, it was more than a little. Despite my trepidation, we headed toward the gym.
	When we arrived, an eerie sound greeted our ears. It reminded me of an engine sound from a giant robot anime. And right at that moment...
	Yoo-hoo! Rise and shine, ursine!
	Kyaaaaaaaaaah!
	Everyone, behind Gonta!
	Wh-What the heck are these...monsters!?
	Whoooooaaaa!!! So coooool!!!
	They're Exisals—highly mobile, bipedal weapons platforms! They got lotsa hometown pride, too!
	Wh-Whatever they are, they better kill off the uggos and save me for last!
	Run, Himiko!
	Why are you concerned about me all of a sudden?
	Hm, didn't someone say they would "kick all their asses"?
	Wh-What the hell!? Nobody told me about these!
	Alright, chill out, no need to panic... We're probably not in any danger. If they wanted to kill us, they'd have done it by now. As he spoke, Rantaro casually approached the monstrous machine.
	So what do you want from us? You clearly want something. That's what the guns are for, right? Let me guess. You're gonna force us to do something, and if we don't, we get hurt.
	Well, you have our attention. So what do you want?
	Huh. Well aren't you a wiseguy?
	I'll start us off! Listen up! Here's what we want you punkasses to do...
	Hahhhhh! My heart's goin' 100 miles per hour! I'm gonna say it! You ready!?
	Hell yeah! It's a—
	KILLING-GAME.
	...What?
	M-M-Monodam! How DARE you upstage me!
	W-Wait a second. What did you say?
	I-If I heard him correctly—
	No, that's not happening.
	Huh?
	My cute little cubs... I'm canceling this killing game...
	Oh! That voice!
	Father!? Father, is that you!?
	Papa Kuma! Papa Kumaaaa!
	Daddy!? Where are you, Daddy!?
	D-Daddy?
	Suddenly, a spotlight cut through the gym.
	I am the god of this new world... and the headmaster of the Ultimate Academy!
	The one, the only...Monokuma! Nice to meetcha!
	Another teddy bear appeared...
	Yes, but that is no ordinary teddy bear. I can see it...the despair and madness swirling around that cursed thing...
	Whoa... First of all, I'm no teddy bear. I'm Monokuma.
	And show some respect! I'm the headmaster of the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles!
	...Headmaster?
	It appears to be some sort of autonomous robot with a built-in A.I., like me...
	Dong dong dong!
	The Exisals are different, though! They're brainless buckets of bolts!
	They're mindless killing machines that can only be controlled by us, the Monokubs.
	Autonomous robots piloting weapons platforms... This is certainly turning into quite the story.
	Well that may be, but what I'm worried about is this "killing game" you mentioned. What exactly does that mean?
	Oh, you don't need to worry about that. I've decided to cancel the killing game.
	C-Cancel!? Did the stress of milking this series finally make you snap, Father!?
	Don't worry, Papa Kuma! I'll help you relax! By makin' a Monodam sandbag!
	...
	I don't like violence or gore, so I don't really mind if it's cancelled...
	P-Pops must be lyin'! He must have a glitch! That's bound to happen when ya get to be his age!
	Nope, your father has never had a single glit—
	... glit-glit-glit—
	... glit-glit-glit—
	... glit-glit-glitch in my life!
	You're like a kid covered in frosting who swears he didn't touch that cake!
	Classic Pops! His pride is higher than the Eiffel Tower!
	Anyway, I've decided to cancel the killing game! And I've never glitched! I'm a professional, dammit!
	...So what are we supposed to do, then? There's no way you'd just let us go after all this.
	Puhu...puhuhuhuhu...
	What is so amusing?
	It's just...when I said it again, I kinda just phoned it in and now I feel awkward...
	There's only one thing I want you to do in this mode... In this mode...
	I just want you to have a fun time living at the academy.
	...Huh?
	Mode...?
	Oh, don't worry about that. It's an inside joke. Anyway, as long as you guys have a fun life at the academy, that's alright by me.
	You're at that special age where it doesn't take much to get your hormones raging.
	Umm, I don't get the point.
	We have all the ingredients for a reality dating show, y'see? There's always one show like that on the air at any given time, y'know?
	Like, a buncha guys and gals livin' under one roof, gettin' the hots for each other... The audience just eats it up, watchin' to see who's gonna end up with who.
	That's what I want for you guys. I want you to star in your own reality dating show.
	Quit screwing around! Why do we gotta do that!?
	Yep, that kinda stock reaction is to be expected...
	But if you've looked around the academy, then you already know, don't you? The academy is surrounded by a huge wall. You can't escape to the outside world...
	And as long as we have the Exisals, you can't defy us.
	So do what you say if we don't want to die.
	Y-You gotta be kidding me! Why do we have to do such a thing!?
	Quit shouting. This is way more mild than what I originally had planned for you. Plus, I'm not saying you gotta live here forever.
	Does that mean...you'll let us out of here?
	Weren't you listening? I said this is a reality dating show. And just like those shows promise, the couple who ends up together get to graduate.
	But, uh, try to be quick about it, okay? Audiences get bored fast these days. If no one ends up together after ten days, this show will be forced off the air.
	And what will happen when this show ends?
	Maybe that's when he'll make us do the killing game?
	Nyah-hahahaha! Kids these days... Always worrying about the future as if failure is a guarantee. Take chances, get messy, make mistakes! Worry about failure when it happens.
	A reality dating show... That sounds so exciting!
	Papa Kuma is on the pulse of society's trends!
	Pops is such a great capitalist! There's no idea he won't rip off to make a profit!
	...
	Oh, by the way, I know I said you guys just need to have a good time living here... But the romantic sparks won't fly if you guys just do whatever you want. The audience won't know who to watch if all sixteen of you are just milling about.
	Hey, what the hell are you talking about!? Telling us to fall in love or whatever? What do you want us to do!?
	Calm down, I'm about to explain.
	When you wanna "spend time" with another student... Or in other words, when you wanna "go on a date," please exchange a Date Ticket. What's that? How do you go about obtaining one of these tickets?
	I never said these tickets were free, did I? Wanting something gives it value—in other words, you gotta shell out cash for 'em.
	You guys have already seen a place on campus where you can earn cash, haven't you?
	...Earn cash?
	I know, I know! I bet he's talking about the casino!
	...SPOILER-WARNING.
	...Oops!
	Uh-oh... Monophanie's gonna get punished by Pops—
	In a democracy, everyone shares the blame!
	Nrghhhhhh! I feel so bad! This is all my fault!
	No, it's democracy's fault!
	Now then, I can't wait to see what kinda hot-and-heavy hijinks you get into! Ah-hahahahaha!
	Kah-hahahahahaha!
	... I stood there dumbfounded, with that maniacal laughing ringing in my ears. Everything here is maniacal and twisted... A school surrounded by a giant wall... Sixteen imprisoned Ultimates
	...These bizarre stuffed animals armed to the teeth... And on top of all that... some kind of reality dating show... Without even a moment of respite, we became the cast of this twisted story.

Gameplay

The goal of the bonus mode is to reach max affection - 10 hearts - with each of the students over the course of 10 in-game days. Each in-game day allows the player to interact with two students once, or one student twice. The player can also earn an extra event per day by having a bottle of Monomergen-C in their inventory - a single use present which can be purchased in the Casino and is used automatically at the start of each day. The player is able to play one casino game of their choice (10 spins of the MonoMono Slots, not counting bonus rounds) at the end of each in-game day to earn Casino Coins which can be used to purchase gifts or other items, including Monomergen-C and Date Tickets. 100 free Casino Coins are also granted automatically each morning.

Monomergen-C
(50 casino coins)

Date Ticket
(100 casino coins)

Free Time

To complete each student's affection route, the player must first complete all 5 stages of each student's Free Time Event route and earn 5 blue hearts. Some students' Free Time Events are entirely exclusive to this mode, specifically the Free Time Event routes of Kaede Akamatsu and Rantaro Amami with Shuichi Saihara, so it is not possible to complete the mode in one playthrough.

Complete guides to each students' Free Time Event route:
NOTE: For Date guides, see the "Date Tickets" section further down this page.

Angie Yonaga	Gonta Gokuhara	Himiko Yumeno	K1-B0	Kaede Akamatsu	Kaito Momota	Kirumi Tojo	Kokichi Oma
Korekiyo Shinguji	Maki Harukawa	Miu Iruma	Rantaro Amami	Ryoma Hoshi	Tenko Chabashira	Tsumugi Shirogane

Date Tickets

After the player has completed a student's Free Time Event route, they are able to take the student on dates, which requires Date Tickets to be purchased from the Casino for 100 Casino coins at the end of each in-game day. Each successful event will grant the player 1 red heart for that particular student. After completing 5 hearts, the player will need to complete a final Harmonious Heart event for each student, which gives Shuichi a glimpse into the student's inner thoughts in the style of a Nonstop Debate. Successfully completing the Harmonious Heart event will grant the player that particular student's graduation event at the end of the mode. The students' affection level carries over into subsequent playthroughs of the mode until all 15 characters have max affection.

Complete guides to each students' Date Ticket route:

Angie Yonaga	Gonta Gokuhara	Himiko Yumeno	K1-B0	Kaede Akamatsu	Kaito Momota	Kirumi Tojo	Kokichi Oma
Korekiyo Shinguji	Maki Harukawa	Miu Iruma	Rantaro Amami	Ryoma Hoshi	Tenko Chabashira	Tsumugi Shirogane

Love Suite

Hotel Kumasutra (in Japanese, Hotel Kumanami) is a hotel within the grounds of Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles. If the player purchases a Key of Love from the casino for 10,000 casino coins, they will receive an intimate scene with a random student from Danganronpa V3 which takes place in a Love Suite (in Japanese, Love Hotel) inside Hotel Kumasutra. At the end of each in-game day during Love Across the Universe, if the player has a Key of Love in their inventory, they will automatically be asked if they wish to use the key. Although the Love Suite can also be accessed during Danganronpa V3's main game, Love Across the Universe is the easiest way to see all 15 students' Love Suite scenes (and the only way to see Kaede's and Rantaro's scenes), because no students die in this mode.

Endings

Bad Ending

If Shuichi is unable to get max affection with any of the students the bad ending is triggered, in which Monokuma mocks him and abandons the school, Shuichi is left trapped, and is told to either try to escape or commit suicide. Shuichi resigns himself to the fact the game will not end until he dies, and the player will have to play another round of Love Across the Universe.

Bad Ending Transcript
	Thus, the ten days that Monokuma gave us passed...
	Well, ten days have passed. And it looks like... Shuichi wasn't able to seal the deal...
	With anyone!
	Wh-What happens now?
	I dunno. Celebs who've fallen from the public eye... Artists whose projects get canceled...
	They knew the risks of pursuing their dreams and failed anyway. So they should take responsibility for that failure, right?
	You're on your own cuz you failed on your own. So I dunno what's gonna happen to you.
	B-But, it's not my fault, I didn't choose to come here...
	Blurgh! Hurk! Your semantic argument makes me wanna hurl! You should've spent more time working on your love game, instead.
	At any rate, I dunno what's gonna happen to you from this point. Try to escape or give up and kill yourself... Do whatever you want!
	Well then, see ya later!
	He said in his usual sneering cadence, then disappeared from view. This academy is now under Monokuma's control. But, that's why... I can't escape the despair. I know I cannot possibly escape by myself... If Monokuma is gone, then...
	My consciousness faded quickly... This is how my days at the academy ended...
	No, it won't end... It won't end until I die. The ending that will never end. I await with open arms.

Good Ending

If Shuichi gets at least 1 student to max affection the good ending is triggered, in which the player will be able to watch that student's graduation event and all of the students are able to leave the school.

True Ending

If Shuichi gets all of the students to max affection, the true ending is triggered, in which the students gather in the Gymnasium and learn that the bonus mode was a project intended for them to form bonds with one another. Despite the fact they were thrown into the situation in artificial circumstances, they come to the conclusion that the relationships they have built with one another are genuine. After receiving the True Ending, the player has the option to reset every student's affection back to zero so that they can play through it again.

True Ending Transcript Thus, the ten days that Monokuma gave us passed.. Monokuma summoned us to the gym. Well, ten days have passed. And it looks like... After an oddly-long pause for dramatic effect, Monokuma continued. You all... ...Can graduate. What? Graduation... You mean... we can all get out of here? ...Yeah. That's what it means. Does that include the degenerates too!? I'd prefer it if those males were confined here for the rest of their lives... H-Hey! Don't give Monokuma any funny ideas! Relax. I don't have that much free time. I'm not gonna cause any major upshifts in a bonus mode. Still, though...I'm reluctant to see everyone graduate... But it's the result the viewers wanted, so what's done is done... When you mention the viewers, are you referring to the people watching this? Hey, hey! How come they get to decide how this ends? Geez! That doesn't matter! Just like how it doesn't matter if Himiko's magic is just parlor tricks! Wha—!? Where did that come from!? Don't make fun of magic! Magic is the foundation the world is built on! ...Anyway, I'm just gonna leave you all with these words. This outcome doesn't mean I lost! I'm not mad that you're graduating. In fact, it's what I expected... Everything went how it was supposed to go. Overall, I think that's a good thing... He's such a sore loser. So what if I am!? Even if I fail, I learn from my mistakes. That's just the kinda bear I am. I have a lot to think about just in case there are any plans for the future. Plans...? You're not making any sense! I mean, what did you even want outta this anyway!? Clearly you weren't interested in pawning those candid shots you took of me! What did I want...? It's obvious, obviously. I'm always thinking about what the audience wants. Cuz I'm the darling mascot of Danganronpa! ...Danganronpa? ...Gonta doesn't understand. Is it cuz Gonta's not smart? No...he is simply making no sense to begin with. I don't wanna ruin the main game in this side story, so I'll just leave things here. Welp, see ya later! And don't forget— Monokuma is forever eternal! ...And he left. So...we're allowed to leave now? Of course! If they suddenly change their minds, I'll kick their asses straight into orbit! Geez, Kaito...even after all this, you're still just talk. His top head is already writing checks that his bottom head can't cash! At any rate...it certainly seems as though we can leave this place, right? We've earned this victory. Let's just enjoy it! The final day... Our life here ends today. We're going to leave this place and return to reality. Even if it's just a little... Just a little tiny bit... Isn't it just plain sad to leave here? Really? This place has no cultural merit, so my interests lie elsewhere. To be frank, I'm happy we now have the option to leave... I mean, of course I'm glad to leave, but I would've liked to stay longer... The scenery here makes cosplay shine. I wanted to enjoy it a bit longer. Don't you all have any regrets leaving this place? Once I leave here... I'll be back in prison. When I think about that... Yeah, I've got regrets leaving this place. Gonta's sad to see everyone go... Everyone was getting along, too... But once we're out of here, we'll still remember our time here together. We should keep the things we've obtained close to our hearts and work hard toward a new life. ...The things we've obtained? You get it right, Shuichi? The things we've obtained in this life. Y-Yeah... What we obtained from our time here... Dating Techniques Ah, dating techniques? Wha—!? How could degenerate males be so vulgar!? I see. So you're a dark mage that controls the hearts of others, huh? N-No, that's not it... I suppose that was wrong. Perhaps... Good ratings Ah, good ratings? What!? Are you on Monokuma's side, Shuichi!? Were you a spy like Ryoji!? Can you please not joke about that, Shuichi? Especially not now, at the end. If I found out that...I could no longer trust you...I could never trust anyone again. I-I'm sorry... What we obtained from our time here... Bonds of friendship Bonds of friendship, right? If we never got dragged into this mess, we never would have met each other. Perhaps that's why the bond between us is so strong. ...Yuck, embarrassing. But, Shuichi's absolutely right, y'know? As long as we've got our bonds, there's no reason to regret leaving! I've still got my regrets... But my memories with you guys... will make prison a little easier on me. Gonta believes he can work harder! To become true gentleman! Just because we are no longer trapped here does not mean we will be apart forever. If you require my service, you may call me. I will pray to Atua for everyone's happiness. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!! I'm so glad I met all of youuuuuu!!! I'll always love you guys forever and ever and eveeeeeeeerrr!!! ... I see... Well, if everyone is okay with that... During these last ten days... we obtained something irreplaceable. An irreplaceable bond. And with that bond in our hearts, we will return to our everyday lives. Lives without Monokuma or the Monokubs or Exisals or locked rooms or rules... Finally, just...a normal life. But...deep down... There's a part of me that regrets having to leave this fictional world. Perhaps I'm just scared of returning to dull days. But we don't have to be scared anymore. If we cherish these bonds between us, we can handle anything. That's how I feel about all this... Our bonds were born from some ridiculous dating game show... But that doesn't make them a farce. On the contrary, it makes them even more real, even more special. We will return to reality with new friendships in our hearts. To boring reality... To a boring, dull reality... Still. It's a reality we love. And thus... our days at the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles... came to an end.

Trivia

• The Japanese name of this mode, Dangan Red Salmon Gang (だんがん紅鮭団), references the real world Japanese matchmaking variety show Neruton Red Whale Gang (ねるとん紅鯨団).
• Unlike in the main game, Monokuma is transparent about the fact the students are in a television show from the very beginning. Monokuma even breaks the fourth wall with the player by referring to Love Across the Universe as a "bonus mode".
• Despite the fact no characters die in this mode, including the Chapter 1 protagonist Kaede, Shuichi acts as the game's protagonist. As a result, none of the Free Time Events featuring Kaede as the protagonist are available in this mode and must be completed in Danganronpa V3's main game.
• In the Bad Ending, a full collection of the Hidden Monokumas will feature on the shelf in Shuichi's dorm room, even if the player has not completed the collection.