The volume contains the ending of the the Infinite Arc (or as the anime calls it Sailor Moon S or Sailor Moon Super), the kickoff to next story line, the Dream Arc (or as the anime calls it Sailor Moon SuperS), a Chibiusa side story, AND the manga version of the second Sailor Moon Movie, the Love of Princess Kaguya. We good? We're good. It's a BIG volume for this edition.
The cover is graced by everyone's first anime lesbian couple, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. I've never been terrible fond of Uranus' almost white manga hair, but her space sword her looks better than it ever did in the 90's anime. As always, Neptune's hair is perfect.
The Infinite arc is famous for rounding our the Sailor Team with the complete solar system, but boy are the villains bonkers. The Death Busters are aliens, they're from another dimension, they're the Witches 5, they're a mad scientist, they're monsters implanting souls into human hosts, they're Mistress 9 (who is also Hotoru, who is also Sailor Saturn the Senshi of Death), and they're Master Pharaoh 90. It's a soggy mess. Reading it issue by issue, month by month, this never bothered me in high school, but it bothers me now.
After Uranus and Neptune's characters are established, poor Pluto is just thrown in there, which is a tragedy, because I feel she has so much to offer as a different type of character, alas. By far the best part of the second half of this arc is Hotaru and Chibiusa's friendship. In protecting Chibiusa and her friends, Hotaru realizes her mission, and a strength she never thought she had. Naoko makes it clear her school girls have an important duty that exists bey0nd themselves. Hotaru may appear like a dainty girl, but she has a cosmic duty that she chooses to fulfill.
I do pick at Chibiusa. Her transformation into Super Sailor Sailor Chibi Moon feels unearned. Sure, Hotaru has just sacrificed her life for Chibiusa's, but it doesn't feel like Chibiusa earned that transformation, she literally just floats over to Sailor Moon. It's just one of those things that Chibiusa gets to do because someone behind the scenes is a fan, although I never understand why.
This climax is the first time in the series Usagi isn't supported solely by Mamoru. All though he still is very much part of the Sailor Team in the manga, Usagi takes this final battle into her own hands. Powered up by every planetary senshi (notably not her partner or her daughter) she dives into the black mass that is Master Pharoah 90. I like this finale in comparison to the first two manga, it feels like a huge moment.
Although I don't think Takeuchi is a real master of sequential art, there is climactic panel where Sailor Saturn Swings her Silence Glaive, in her Death Reborn Revolution. The two page splash is simple, with no shading, dark colors, or sound effects. I felt the silence through the page. Takeuchi has a lot of characters, powers, and items she has to manage, and over all I feel she does it well. And I have to give her fashion props, all of the guardians have GREAT normal person outfits, which the 90's anime totally ignore to it's own detriment.