Mika has always been a doujinshika first, mangaka second. Her circle is ‘Affluenza’, and she’s been making self-produced BL since 1988. Her first pro mangaka gig was with Biblos in the mid 90’s, and during that time, she still self-produced yaoi. The first successful doujinshi she seems to have had is Pathos [the book I have is from 98 and its doujinshi size] but she re-printed the doujinshi again in 99 when she came out with Extra stories and a sequel [these reprints were manga size].

She reprinted both of them again in 2000, I suspect she didn’t have too much time to make anything original since she was making work for pubs Sanwa Shupan and mooks like Magazine-Magazine; but she finally made a splash Sanwa-S with Angus Day [physically-handicapped yaoi]. This looked like it allowed her to splurge a bit on the self-production front, because in 2001 she self-produced a title called Under Grand Hotel. She then had a minor hit in 2002 with the Buddy System for Magazine Magazine, and then Sanwa Shupan picked up Under Grand Hotel; I suspect her popular status as a doujinshika got the attention of [Oakla], who finally slapped their ISBN on Pathos in 2004. :) And the rest is history– they say.

With Mika Sadahiro being as well-loved in the scanlation community as she is, and Pathos being such an enjoyable read, I was honestly surprised its release in English didn't cause more of a stir.

Pathos is one of those classics in BL [I say classics from the standpoint of an American fan] that got a license and I wasn't charged an arm/leg for it. :)

BTW, I also have the doujinshi issues that were included in the Pathos release from Aqua –

I just love Sadahiro. She makes her manga and produces it first, then waits for the publishers to come around and make her an offer. That's true creator spirit there. [/fangirling]