This might be my favorite chapter so far. It felt triumphant in a way MahoAko hasn't previously attempted.
After holding out for four years, Utena/Baiser finally seizes the heel's true purpose & power. She springs a trap that Imitatio can escape only by manifesting love. Michiko rises to the challenge, breaking Imitatio's chains to become what Utena loves best: a real magical girl emerges from the broken imitation. Good then spanks evil off to starland as the world cheers.
The world, however, has been fooled by an imitation. Utena designed Baiser's "evil" scheme to free Michiko from "good" Imitatio's hate. And Baiser's public defeat is a deliberate dive that accomplishes Utena's larger goal, restoring the order & balance Enormeeta had previously threatened. It's also a private expression of Utena's love for the magical girls she must fight.
This construction is complex, elegant and, despite its obvious ironies, surprisingly conservative. Chapter 48 resolves the current arc's major struggles & themes by reasserting mahou shoujo tradition. Even where one narrative layer subverts another, Sailor Moon virtues conquer darkness: love over hate, friendship over doubt/fear, and the greater good over individual desire.
The optimistic simplicity feels like deadpan joke, given the sea of depravity from which it issues. But "depraved innocence" seems a fair summary of the MahoAko spirit, so I'm inclined to take it at face value. Personally, I'm hoping for more cringey perve romance in the future, but I doubt it'll ever become the focus ❤️