Oh, please, please, please let the finale be half as amazing as this episode and I'll be satisfied. All complaints about things happening too late aside, the way they were pulled off here was just amazing.
I think Kagami knows that he has yet to surpass Tendou, he seemed extremely surprised when he saw him get hit by the bullets during the kick. My guess is that he was expecting a fair fight.
Though it seemed pretty obvious, I like that Mishima became a Native. I think this was more or less the right area to place it, maybe towards the end of the previous episode, but here was pretty good as well. I love the way his form looks and that he's more or less calling himself the strongest Worm. This was honestly the first time I've had a big "WTF?!" reaction in a good way from a toku in a while. I was expecting Mishima to die at the hands of Negishi, so I'm very please with how they're handling this character.
While the Hopper stuff did seem tacked on and I wish they could have had an entire episode devoted to themselves, it was a nice send off. Again, like what happened with Tsurugi's death, I actually got a little misty eyed watching that scene. I think it's pretty obvious that Kageyama attacked Yaguruma as well and they both killed each other. Yaguruma mentioned they still have to go after something and that they'll be partners forever, so that makes me think that Yaguruma was expecting to die as well and didn't want to put up a fight against his partner.
These two characters could have both been handled a lot better than they were(who couldn't?), but with everything we've seen, this was a far better ending than I was expecting for them. It makes me glad that Yaguruma forgave Kageyama for everything he did to him and didn't seem to treat him like a pawn anymore. Again, another good surprise from the writers, ever since Kageyama became Punch Hopper, I was expecting Yaguruma to just end up killing him out of revenge, not pity. It's a real shame that they didn't live up to be the villains they were originally foreshadowed as, but all things considered, they got a pretty decent ending. I'm glad that they both "stepped back into the light" before their deaths, that's something I would have wanted for them regardless of how their entire arc was handled.
I think it's pretty obvious that Kabuto was saved by Dark Kabuto. The two and maybe Gatack are going to team up to try and defeat Negishi and Mishima in the finale. We're also going to see a third Tendou appear, so it'll be interesting to find out what time line he's from.
I've been greatly enjoying these past few episodes, 48 was definitely my favorite episode and while I wish the entire series was as good as these last ten or so episodes, I'm glad the series is at least going to go out with, not a great bang, but better than I expected considering how rocky a series it's been.