Osamu Dezaki

Who was Osamu Dezaki?

Osamu Dezaki, also known as Makura Saki, 斉九洋, Matsudo Kan or Yabuki Toru, was a Japanese director of anime, born on November 18, 1943 in Shinagawa, Tokyo. His older brother, Satoshi Dezaki, is also an anime director.

Dezaki started out as a manga artist while still in high school. In 1963 he joined Mushi Production, which was founded by manga and anime pioneer Osamu Tezuka. His made his debut as a director in 1970 with Ashita no Joe.

Dezaki was known for his distinct visual style, which makes use of split screen, stark lighting, and pastel freeze frames that he called "postcard memories", which may be his most famous trademark. They feature a process whereby the screen fades into a detailed "painting" of the simpler original animation. Many of his techniques became popular and came to be seen as special techniques of Japanese animation. He particularly influenced Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Yoshiyuki Tomino, Ryūtarō Nakamura, Kunihiko Ikuhara, Akiyuki Shinbo, and Yutaka Yamamoto.

Desaki died from lung cancer on April 17, 2011, at the age of 67.