Dr. Saruta

Dr. Saruta is a reoccuring character in the Osamu Tezuka Star System. He is a hardened scientist with a tragic past, and often appears as Professor Ochanomizu's colleague.

Origin
Dr. Saruta was created in 1968 for the manga Phoenix: Future, in which he plays the final descendant of a long-running Saruta bloodline. He is living on the surface of the scorched earth with his assistant Robita, a robot whom is also the last of their kind. Two citizens, Masato and his alien girlfriend Tamami, flee to the surface from Masato's boss Rock. The three meet at Saruta's compound, and shortly thereafter, a cataclymic nuclear war breaks out underground. The group must deal with being the final survivors of humanity. Saruta falls in love with Tamami, much to his own regret and shame; regardless, he works hard to sustain the group and further their survival. Years before, Saruta found and adopted Robita after finding them in self-exile. Robita was the final surviving model of a line of domestic robots, and they had just killed their owner Acetylene Lamp by underfuelling his robot girlfriend, leaving her to smother Lamp to death. Before learning this, Saruta was skeptical of AI robots, and was especially intrigued by Robita's admission of guilt.

Saruta's ancestors appear throughout the Phoenix manga: General Sarutahiko (Dawn), Gao (Resurrection), and young astronaut Saruta (Universe).

In Black Jack
Dr. Saruta appears as a major character in the manga Black Jack. He is the titular character's mentor, Dr. Honma, and the surgeon who performed Kuro Hazama's life-saving reconstructive surgery. Hazama later takes on the name of Black Jack, and becomes a medical student so he can study under Honma's guidance.

Appearance
Saruta is one of the few characters to have a nose as large as that of Hiroshi Ochanomizu. However, Saruta's nose is distinctly afflicted with granuloma annulare, causing numerous small bumps on it. Many of Saruta's ancestors had the same condition, but not all of them. Also unlike Ochanomzu, Saruta most often has a full head of hair and a mustache.

2003 series
In Shape Shifter, Dr. Saruta is a former colleague of Professor Ochanomizu who encountered a Moopie, a shapeshifting alien, on the moon during a scientific expedition. When the Moopie is captured, Saruta knows the alien will be subject to medical experiments on earth, so he steals it from the moon lab and attempts to flee on his own. Unfortunately, his moon rover falls into a crater, and Saruta is terribly injured. The Moopie takes the form of a beautiful human woman, reveals her name is Tamami, and helps transport him to safety.

In the present, Saruta is going through treatment for radiation poisoning, while also trying to ensure Tamami stays alive. He begins working with a young crime boss named Rock, who ensures them a supply of the special moon rock, Lumanite, which sustains Tamami. Saruta is deeply ashamed of his connection to Rock and is actually grateful to meet Astro, when the boy is out looking to capture Rock. At the end of the episode, Tamami exerts her abilities and solidifies into stone. Saruta refuses to give up on her and vows to revive her one day.