Gengoroh Tagame

Gengoroh Tagameborn, born 3 February 1964, is a Japanese mangaka who specializes in gay BDSM erotic manga, many of which depict graphic violence. The men he depicts are hypermasculine, and tend to be on the bearish side.Born into a family descended from samurai Tagame began his career as a mangaka in 1982, while he was studying graphic design at Tama Art University. His works have been published in several Japanese gay magazines, including Sabu, G-men and SM-Z. Since 1986, he has used the pen-name Gengoroh Tagame, and since 1994 Tagame has lived off the profits of his art and writings. In recent years, Tagame has edited a two volume artbook series about the history of gay erotic art in Japan from the 1950s to the present, Nihon no gei, erotikku āto, Gay Erotic Art in Japan, volumes 1 and 2.
All his works contain "virile males, or youths, and their apprenticeship of physical and mental submission". Works of his include: Jujitsu Kyoshi at B Product; Emono, Shirogane no Hana (3 vol.) and Pride (3 vol.) at G-Project. Naburi mono, ("Laughing stock") serialised in G-Men in 1994, is about the kidnapping of a wrestler who refused a yazuka boss. One of the yazuka falls in love with the wrestler. They go into hiding together and eventually commit joint suicide to preserve their honour.
His manga Gunji (軍次) was translated into French in 2005, followed by Arena in 2006 and Goku in 2009. An artbook of his works has also been published in France by H&O Editions. An exhibition of his works was held in France in May 2009. Tagame is openly gay.
Tagame has been called the most influential creator of gay manga in Japan to date., and "the most talented and most famous author of sado-masochistic gay manga". Most of his work first appeared in gay magazines and usually feature sexual abuse. Tagame's depiction of men as muscular and hairy has been cited as a catalyst for a shift in fashion amongst gay men in 1995, away from the clean-shaven and slender bishonen stereotypes and towards a tendency for masculinity and chubbiness. Tagame's work has been criticised by notable gay manga writer Susumu Hirosegawa as "SM gekijō" (S&M theater) for its violence and lack of complex storylines.