Hear, hear! There be a new corporate effort to license more of Japan's exquisite sub-culture in the Otaku States of America: through a partnership with Seven Seas Entertainment, Tor Books (best known for their sci-fi and fantasy books) will make their entrance into the risky world of manga publishing next year. They also plan to become a flagship publisher of "light novels", a type of book new to American manga fans, and as we've seen in recent months, an increasing source of inspiration for tomorrow's animes.

In March 2008, Tor will being releasing the Ballad of a Shinigami (Shinigami no Ballad), Pita-Ten, and Strawberry Panic light novels. Then, in August 2008, the new Tor/Seven Seas imprint will debut the Afro Samurai manga, which in turn will will kick off a multi-platform promotional campaign, including an Afro Samurai video game by Namco and the launch of Spike TV's second Afro Samurai anime season, both slated for autumn 2008.