The manga was then collated into a book with the same title, which is now in its fifth printing due to overwhelming popularity. Today, at 51-years-old, the illustrator continues to expand his creative horizons, and recently serialized a queer story called My Brother's Husband in Monthly Action Comics, an otherwise-hetero magazine. Over the next 30 years, he published more than 20 books in four languages in addition to selling hundreds of fine art prints and illustrations. While studying art in college in the 80s, he started publishing queer illustrations under a pen name, and continued writing erotic stories throughout his twenties while supporting himself with a job as a graphic designer. After watching the scene in Planet of the Apes where Charles Heston is dragged by a leather collar, he felt an indescribable sensation inside him, leading the artist into further research about S&M.
Tagame realized his own BDSM fetish when he was a child.
