He became aware of his homosexuality after watching films featuring "naked and bound men" (such as the Italian "Hercules" series and Charlton Heston in "Planet of the Apes") and discovering the gay men's magazine . He found that he was uninterested in stories in "Sabu" focused on romance, and drawn to stories that focused on sadomasochism. In high school Tagame began writing manga professionally, and contributed to the manga magazine "June" in 1982 under a pen name. "June" was a yaoi (male-male romance manga, also known as boys' love or BL) magazine that targeted a primarily female readership, and was noted for its avant-garde stories with complex plots and social realism; Tagame's first story in "June" focused on a "pretty boy who cross dresses" whose father is murdered by his boyfriend. Tagame struggled with his sexuality and interest in sadomasochism through high school, and did not come out until his freshman year of college.