Volumes 1-2
Story and Art by Sonoda Kenichi
Copyright © 1998 Sonoda Kenichi

Guns and girls. From GALLFORCE to BUBBLEGUM CRISIS to the more recent GUNSMITH CATS, those two words pretty much epitomize the visual aspect of most of Sonoda Kenichi's stories. While the cyberpunk chic of BUBBLEGUM CRISIS earned a cult following in the USA, and while Sonoda really did his homework on GUNSMITH CATS, most of his stories are hardly groundbreaking stuff—in the end, it's the flying bullets and the fan service that make Sonoda's titles memorable. And his most recent work, EXAXXION - THE CANNON GOD, is no different.
EXAXXION takes place ten years after "First Contact" with the Leofaads, aliens who peacefully assimilate themselves into Earth's culture and share their advanced technology with Earth. While our protagonist, Kanou Houichi, has been told by his father not to trust the aliens, both father and son are widely ridiculed by others for that opinion. After many years of peaceful coexistence and an overall higher quality of life thanks to Leofaad technology, no one on Earth suspects that their new neighbors could be up to anything sneaky.
As it turns out, the Leofaads were counting on that fact—the assimilation of Leofaads into human society was a Trojan Horse ten years in the making. On the 10th Anniversary of First Contact, the Leofaads unveil the hidden trump card that they haven't shared with mankind: gravity control. After destroying the Pentagon and the US military with ease, the Leofaads declare Earth as their 7th colony.
But not all is lost. Suspecting the true nature of the Leofaads all along, Houichi's father has been preparing for this very day. After salvaging alien technology of unknown origin from a crash site many years before First Contact, the mad professor has developed an array of secret weaponry to fight the alien menace. And his own son, the unsuspecting Houichi, is about to become the Leofaad's worst nightmare! Well, at least his Dad gives him a nigh-indestructable body suit and a busty female sidekick.
The visuals are extremely sharp and well-drawn, plus the character designs are very appealing (if somewhat exaggerated in certain places). But the mechanical designs aren't terribly original; Houichi's "gunner suit" is rather nondescript, and the enemy mecha look fairly generic so far. And the design of the Exaxxion itself, which bears a striking resemblance to a Hardsuit, has been lifted wholesale from Sonoda's own previous work on BUBBLEGUM CRISIS. The manga also features quite a bit of female skin, though compared to the sometimes disturbing and graphic displays in GUNSMITH CATS, the nudity in EXAXXION is pure fan service and relatively "harmless" in comparison. Nevertheless, readers who object to the portrayal of females as sex objects should probably stay clear of this title.
Aside from Sonoda's trademark guns 'n girls, EXAXXION pulls out just about every superhero cliche from the book: ancient alien technology, a mad scientist and his gorgeous female assistants, the reluctant teenage boy thrust into the role of a one-man army, his well-endowed female sidekick, and the aspiring female journalist who suspects that her classmate and the superhero are the one and the same. The story doesn't even attempt to disguise the blatant hero cliches, not when the oft-recited mantra is "To Become A Hero!"
The fact that EXAXXION manages to work in spite of its formulaic premise may come as a surprise. But all it really takes is for the Leofaads to ruthlessly exterminate civilian lives for the manga to drum up support for Houichi, and the reader will soon begin cheering in no time at all as the nigh-invincible protagonist opens a can of whupass against the bad guys. Kicking butt has seldom been this thrilling! The story also has its heartwarming moments as well; in one scene, Houichi arrives in a hard-hit area and, using the nanotech in his glove, treats everyone's wounds on the spot. Not only are the people healed, they are filled with new hope, for in Houichi they now have someone who will stand up and fight for them--in short, a hero.
From the straightforward superhero premise to the fan service, EXAXXION is mind candy, pure and simple, and anyone who picks up this title expecting some deep meaning or originality will be disappointed. But the story about resisting an alien invasion is actually not that bad, and there is plenty of over-the-top action and fan service to keep things entertaining, which is no less than what one expects from a manga title by Sonoda Kenichi.

Published by Afternoon KC
2 volumes, ongoing
Black/white, ca. 200 pages per volume
Vol. 1: ISBN4-06-314180-2
Vol. 2: ISBN4-06-314201-9
¥505
Available now in Japan
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