Like Dr. Ochanomizu, Saruta is visually identifiable by his large nose, though in his case it is grotesquely spotted. Where Ochanomizu generally appears in light and uplifting roles, Saruta is quite the opposite. His two main roles in Tezuka manga are both in extremely important series: Black Jack and Phoenix. In Phoenix, he is arguably an over-arching protagonist for the series as a whole, alongside its title character. He appears in every story, sometimes in a main role, sometimes in a peripheral one, sometimes with a new name and barely recognizable in his character, but always present and important. He is also distinguishable by the sheer amount of suffering he undergoes over the course of his many lives and deaths, as he demonstrates both the darker sides of human nature and the human capacity for perserverance and transcendence.  In Black Jack, he is featured as Dr. Honma Jotaro, once a skilled and famous surgeon later thrown out of the medical community due to jealousy and doubt about his research, who saved young Black Jack as a child, was Black Jack&#039;s principle father figure during his life, and inspired him to become a doctor. Since Saruta is the character in Phoenix who best understands the system of reincarnation, life and death, it is appropriate that in Black Jack Dr. Honma is the figure who most frequently reminds Black Jack about the power of nature and the inevitability of death.      (Source: tezukainenglish.com)

"All things are born and all things die. That is the law of heaven." According to legend, the Bird of Fire called the Phoenix is the eternal spirit of life, death and rebirth. She oversees the cycle of reincarnation and the rising and falling of civilizations and species. Those who can obtain her blood will be granted eternal life, while to others she can grant infinite wisdom, or eternal suffering. Throughout history, from the dawn of civilization to the extinction of the human race, those human souls touched by the Phoenix have hunted her over and over in multiple reincarnations, and their actions in one life determine or reflect the sins and sufferings of other lifetimes. (Source: AnimeNewsNetwork) Note: This is an incomplete series due to Tezuka's death.

Among adult readers in Japan Black Jack is Osamu Tezuka’s most popular achievement, and perhaps the most close to the creator’s heart, as Tezuka considered entering the medical field—majoring in medicine in college—before devoting his life to comics. Black Jack is a genius surgeon who never acquired his license due to his clashes with the medical establishment. He is hired out by anyone willing to pay his exorbitant rates and is perceived as a heartless rogue because of his enigmatic nature and antisocial manner. But as readers will soon discover, that is not the whole story.
 
(Source: Kodansha USA)
 Note: Won the 1st Kodansha Manga Award in the Shounen category in 1977.

A samurai lord has bartered away his newborn son's organs to forty-eight demons in exchange for dominance on the battlefield. Yet, the abandoned infant survives thanks to a medicine man who equips him with primitive prosthetics - lethal ones with which the wronged son will use to hunt down the multitude of demons to reclaim his body one piece at a time, before confronting his father. On his journeys the young hero encounters an orphan who claims to be the greatest thief in Japan.
 
Like an unforgettable road movie, Dororo reaches deeper than its swashbuckling surface and offers a thoughtful allegory of becoming what one is, for nobody is born whole
 
(Source: Kodansha USA)

Phoenix 2772 starts with twelve minutes without dialogue, much like a silent film, recalling the birth and education of Godo. In this brave new world, children are born in test tubes and are raised by computers and robots. Godo learns the skills that will make him into a great pilot, assisted by the robotic wonder Olga. Everything that Godo needs is provided for him until he eventually goes for training with his automaton companion. He soon realizes that the world is not what he expected... 
(Source: AniDB)

From 1957, he became the Japanese voice of Alfred Hitchcock in Nippon TV's TV broadcasts of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and from 1989, he played the voice of Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie's Poirot.

He died of rectal cancer on October 12, 2015, at a hospital in Tokyo, at the age of 88.

Date of birth: 1927-07-31
Hometown: Roma, Lazio, Italy
Date of death: 2010-04-10

Based on the brilliant maverick doctor created by manga pioneer Osamu Tezuka. This prequel follows Black Jack when he was still a medical student in the 1960s.
 
(Source: Anime News Network)

Dr. Saruta