Anthropologist Wim Lunsing credits the "bear-type" aesthetic pioneered by Tagame with provoking a major stylistic shift in the Shinjuku Ni-chōme, the gay neighborhood of Tokyo. Following the publication of "G-men", the "slender and slick" clean-shaven style popular among gay men was replaced with "stubble, beards and moustaches [...] extremely short became the most common hair style and the broad muscular body, soon to evolve to chubby and outright fat, became highly fashionable." Tagame's work in establishing "G-men" is further credited as providing an incubator for up-and-coming talent in the gay manga genre, and launching the careers of artists such as Jiraiya. His archival efforts in producing "Gay Erotic Art in Japan" are further credited with developing a "gay art canon" of Japanese erotic art. Among Tagame's critics are gay erotic artist Susumu Hirosegawa, who has described his art as "S&M theater" and criticized his manga as "simple emanations of the SM-"shumiō" of Tagame." Lunsing concurs that "it is hard to counter [Hirosegawa's argument, as [Tagame's] stories are not very elaborate."