This is way more what was wanted in a sequel to a precure than what Otona offered! I think they must have learned some things with Otona, unfortunate for the fans of those precure that they were experiments, but I guess fortunate for the Mahou Tsukai fans. Here's hoping they keep things up!
Loving the new looks~
Mahotsukai has many things in favor of the sequel from start which Yes 5 simply didn't.
Number of Cures/Cast, With a single cour, we were almost at the end when they finished making everyone Cure again, not to mention they joined Yes 5+ Splash Star.
Mahotsukai had already an epilogue which pointed where the series could go if a supposed sequel had to exist, Yes 5 GoGo didn't so the series had to stablish that, and then create a story for it.
But most importantly, Mahotsukai had a level of worldbuilding that gives no issue for sequels to happen, no matter if the villains are gone there is more there going on. Both Yes 5 series had a standalone setting which the only thing shared where certain returning antagonists like Bumbee or the Mascot Kingdoms.
That said, considering the level Narita is pulling with Wonderful I am really sure Otona 23 would have been something to remember if the series had just two cours.
I'm with you on this. There's a huge advantage for Mahou Tsukai beyond just going second. The end of it set up perfectly for this sequel. If we ignore the silly "let's set things up for the next series" final episode it's all ideal. Riko and Mirai are grown up at the end. We know what they've been up to (teaching vs going to college) and their reunion was beyond emotional.
So it had all the right pieces to go right into a sequel. The other show did have to establish its sequel and spend time setting up things. Even harder for Yes 5 since...the cast is much bigger. Mahou Tsukai just needs to focus on Riko, Mirai, and technically Goddess Haa-chan. Nice and clean.