Dezaki started his professional career as Key Animator in Osamu Tezuka's studio Mushi Productions and quickly rose to fame when he directed the iconic sports anime Tomorrow's Joe. He proceeded to direct influential and successful anime series. Particularly beloved are his shoujo-oriented collaborations with manga artist Riyoko Ikeda and animators Shingo Araki and Akio Sugino
He died from lung cancer in 2011 at the age of 67.
Selected Works, listed as a director unless said otherwise (list under construction):
- Astro Boy – key animator and director for the 1963 series, storyboards for episode 9 for the 2003 series.
- Goku No Daibouken (1967)
- Wanpaku Tanteidan (1968)
- Dororo (1969)
- Senya Ichiya Monogatari (1969) – animator
- Frosty the Snowman (1969)
- Tomorrow's Joe (1970-1971, 1980-1981)
- Lupin III:
- Lupin III: Part 1 (1971-1972) – storyboards for the first and last episodes
- Lupin III: Bye-Bye Liberty Crisis! (1989)
- Lupin III: Mystery of the Hemingway Papers (1990)
- Lupin III: Steal Napoleon's Dictionary (1991)
- Lupin III: From Siberia With Love (1992)
- Lupin III: The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure (1995)
- Belladonna (1973) – key animation
- Aim for the Ace!! (1973-1974, 1979, 1988-1990)
- The Rose of Versailles (1979-1980) – directed the second half
- Space Adventure Cobra (1982)
- Rainbow Brite (1984) – episode 1 only, chief director; episode directed by Kazuhide Tomonaga
- Mighty Orbots (1984)
- Bionic Six (1987)
- Visionaries (1987)
- Kasei Yakyoku (1988)
- Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1987 pilot)
- Lupin III Yearly Specials (1989-1992 and 1995)
- Dear Brother (1991-1992)
- Black Jack OVA (1993-2000)
- Hamtaro movies (2001-2004)
- Air movie (2005)
- The Snow Queen (2005-2006)
- CLANNAD movie (2007)
- Genji Monogatari Sennenki (2009)
Pastel-Chalked Tropes:
- Darker and Edgier: He has a tendency to do this. When he took over directing duties on The Rose of Versailles, the tone of the show became notably darker and the pacing far more upbeat. The Black Jack OVA is much more explicit with violence than the manga.
- Dutch Angle: One of the most notorious users of this in anime. It's not a rarity to even see a diagonal Dutch Angle shot.
- The Ken Burns Effect: Whenever he used Limited Animation, this technique was his first choice to save budget.
- Pastel-Chalked Freeze Frame: The Trope Maker, as he essentially invented this and was fond of using it for especially dramatic scenes.
- Rule of Drama
- Signature Style: All of the tropes mentioned, along with a distinctive camera pan that is repeated three times in different speeds. He also tended to use a warm color palette and stark lighting that became highly influential on Akiyuki Shinbo and Kunihiko Ikuhara. Additionally, in his works, a lot of birds are flying around.
- Smoking Is Not Cool: He was a notorious chain-smoker, and it eventually killed him with lung cancer at the age of 67.
- Split Screen
- World of Ham: His fast pacing and heavy stylization tends to invoke this.
