BELLXA — One-Shot Review!

This is short review of the One-Shot BELLEXA by Dawson Jones, published by Dedaw13!

I personally love finding new rookie mangaka and writers coming out doing their own personal work and publishing, so it's exciting to introduce to you guys BELLEXA, a Pulp Noir Psychological Thriller written and drawn by Dawson Jones with editing by Issiah Preudhomme.

BELLEXA is a new ambitious work by these young men published by their company Dedaw13. They have amassed a small twitter following with their work, but BELLEXA is a new Manga they want to release with the help of their fans and the manga community, and I hope those reading this support it as well!

Currently BELLEXA is posted as a one-shot on the dedaw13 twitter account, at the same username, and personally i’m impressed by the work Jones and Preudhomme have released as a tease into the world of BELLEXA. There wasn’t a wasted page in their attempts, making me hopeful for a full release.

As a Noir Psychological Thriller, BELLEXA takes a mature approach making the reader aware that dead bodies and body mutilation is a common scenario for this world of set in the dark underbelly of an unnamed city. Since it is a one-shot, the lack of certain key facts is acceptable to sacrifice to convey the other necessary elements such as the cultural setting, character interactions and hype action moments.

What impressed me about BELLEXA is the silent protagonist approach taken because I personally do not enjoy silent protagonists in most settings, but here it works with the mystery of the world setting.

There is an interesting way the reader is pulled into the surroundings and the main protagonists after being introduced into his occupation of being a hitman. The natural questions that arrive about the world’s underbelly was very intriguing for me personally, but the main antagonist of the one-shot intrigued me the most.

Mouretsu Tojo, is talked about very early in the one-shot as an extremely dangerous character that is formidable to even the protagonist who throughout the one-shot was easily dismantling enemies. Tojo is extremely creepy, matching the vibe of the protagonists making them a perfect match up for each other.

This makes the world of BELLEXA feel expansive and raises hopes of an interesting rivalry between the Protagonist and Tojo. I look forward to seeing more of their battles against one other once the series officially releases. Since this is Psychological Thriller, I hope there are more moments focusing on the mental games and impacts Tojo has on the world, so far he seems just simply sadistic but the time with his character is short so no true conclusions can be formed.

As I introduced, BELLEXA is a project created by a small group of individuals at the Company Dedaw13, and BELLEXA is being backed by a Kickstarter you can find on their twitter or webpage! The Goal is $1000 for extra support towards the manga project, and I hope you guys enjoy BELLEXA as much as I did and support the work as well!