First mentioned in Chapter 25, the "Baby" is a short, elderly man, and an infamous Neo-Nazi leader. He worships Johan as an ideal Aryan leader who would be able to become the next Hitler to lead Germany into prominence. He also works for the four individuals who would gladly welcome Johan as a political leader. To this end, he hoped to use Nina as bait to coerce Johan, but also as a precautionary measure to protect him (and the other group members) from Johan. ~! This fails as Johan kills one of the first of four members in the organization.<br>
In the second half of the series he grows depressed and confides in a prostitute, he is later killed by this prostitute in a scheme engineered by Johann.!~

The characteristics of the "Baby" is heavily influenced by the character "[The Man from Another Place](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_from_Another_Place)" from [Twin Peaks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Peaks). His first appearance, in Chapter 26/Episode 15, is also nearly identical, appearing to Nina Fortner from behind a red curtain (akin to the Black Lodge's waiting room) while dancing to the tune "Be My Baby".

(Source: Wikipedia)

Usurer and entrepreneur, he wants to get his hands on Trent's antiques shop, in order to own the entire neighborhood. He lends money to the old man who loses it in gambling.

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)

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.

Kazuo Kumakura

Characters