The Greek War God Hidden in Japan’s Choco Egg

Ares Green — Choco Egg Saikyo-O Zukan Selection Vol.3 Figure

A Shokugan Figure With Deep Roots in Greek Myth

This piece is a shokugan — a Japanese food toy — from Furuta Confectionery’s Choco Egg series. It belongs to the Saikyo-O Zukan Selection Vol.3 set and depicts Ares, the Greek god of war, cast in a semi-transparent teal green plastic. The figure is small, non-articulated, and holds a low combat stance: crested helmet, a round aspis shield, and a curved blade — all standard iconography for this Olympian deity.

The Choco Egg format works like this: a chocolate egg cracks open to reveal a capsule containing a randomly selected miniature figure from a themed set. Furuta launched the line around 1999, and it became one of Japan’s most recognized food toy series throughout the 2000s. Because the figure inside was always a surprise, an entire culture of trading and set-completion grew around it. The most celebrated entries in the Choco Egg catalog are the animal series, produced under the supervision of Kaiyodo — but the line extended to historical figures, characters, and mythology-inspired themes like this one. The sculptor for the Saikyo-O Zukan line specifically is not publicly documented.

The Saikyo-O Zukan Concept

Saikyo-O Zukan, translated loosely as “Encyclopedia of the Mightiest,” is a children’s book series from the publisher Gakken Plus. The books stage tournament-style battles between the strongest beings across different categories — prehistoric animals, mythological gods, legendary warriors — and determine a single winner. It is an immediately legible concept, regardless of whether a reader knows the specific books.

Whether this Choco Egg set was an official licensed tie-in with those books has not been confirmed. What is clear is that Furuta built at least three volumes around the same concept, with this third entry drawing from mythology. The series is a product of its time: the mid-to-late 2000s in Japan, when food toy lines regularly reached well beyond their original audience of children, drawing adult collectors who pursued complete sets with real dedication.

Ares as Subject, and the Significance of the Green Variant

Ares sits at the top of Greek mythology’s war hierarchy — one of the twelve Olympians, counterpart to Rome’s Mars — which makes him a natural fit for any “strongest” themed roster. The figure renders him in a fighting crouch, with details consistent with classical armed depictions of Greek deities.

The green molding is the other defining feature of this particular piece. Choco Egg sets sometimes included alternate-color versions of figures alongside the standard lineup, distinguishable by a different plastic color. This one is cast in a pale, semi-transparent teal green that reads as visually distinct from any standard release. Color variants like this are treated as a separate category among collectors of Japanese food toys, though official production details for this specific variant have not been publicly documented.

The broader appeal of the item rests on what it represents: Greek mythology filtered through Japan’s shokugan tradition, packaged as a candy-egg surprise. Furuta’s Choco Egg brand carries genuine recognition in international collector communities, and Ares as a subject bridges Western mythology with a format that is distinctly Japanese in origin — an intersection that does not come along often in either tradition.