Masaki Suda plays three roles: red, black, and white. December 12th is "Darth Day."

Morinaga & Co. held a "Dars Day" PR event at its headquarters building in Minato Ward, Tokyo, on the 11th, ahead of December 12th, the anniversary of its portable chocolate粒 "Dars".

Actor Masaki Suda, the product's image character, made a surprise appearance at the venue. In the TV commercials airing since the 6th—"DARS Red Suda-san DARS Day," "DARS Black Suda-san DARS Day," and "DARS White Suda-san DARS Day" (each 15 seconds)—he takes on three roles, inspired by the three flavors: milk, bitter, and white. He portrayed: "Red Suda-san," a passionate character with a pure heart who believes in fate and is sweet to women; "Black Suda-san," a cool character with a scheming nature who won't hesitate to cut corners to achieve his goals; and "White Suda-san," whose unique hair and clothing, along with his aura, attract people.

"It was a precious opportunity and a lot of fun. It was especially difficult to convey Black Suda-san's scheming nature through acting, and I struggled to differentiate him from Red Suda-san, so please pay attention to that," he said, introducing his all-black outfit with "I came as Black Suda-san today." He flashed a mischievous smile, adding, "Today's me is scheming."

He also revealed he's always conscious of DARS, saying, "I saw a gold DARS at the convenience store the other day. I wondered, 'Is there a golden version of myself too!?'" drawing laughter from the audience.

"Out of the three flavors, I especially like the bitter one. I often eat it while doing stage work," he said. Right then, he was presented with a box of black DARS. Opening it immediately, he found that among the chocolates each stamped with "DARS," one special piece was stamped not with "DARS" but with "SUDA."

"I was moved," Suda murmured. He then revealed the story behind his casting in the DARS commercial: "Actually, the reason I was chosen is because my friends called me 'Darsu' since I was little. I even released a photo book called 'DA-SU' using that nickname. Plus, I was born in 1993, the same year as DARS!" The audience roared with laughter at Suda's declaration, "It was a pun!"

He shared his ambition: "I want to gather all the Sudas born in 1993 and declare, 'We're the real DARS!' And it would be perfect if we could get exactly 12 people together."

Throughout his talk, he kept sneaking bites of DARS while the MC wasn't looking, grinning, "I want to finish a whole box before this event ends."

A giant mosaic art piece of Suda-san, made using 10,000 pieces of Dark, Milk, and White DARS, appeared in the venue to celebrate "DARS Day."

Suda exclaimed happily, "Wow! My face is expressed in three colors!" and commended the production team, saying, "It must have been hard work."

The company will hold the "Morinaga Confectionery December 12th 'DARS Day' Sampling Event" at the SHIBUYA109 event space on the 12th.

The event will showcase the world of the new commercial. It features a large-scale Dars <Milk> package, created to match the scale of the commercial, along with mock-ups of the three large chocolate pieces. A space is set up where visitors can freely take photos and enjoy themselves.

Suda was fascinated by the large package, peering at it from all angles and expressing admiration, "They even made the inside properly."