Hey kids, remember when Toei said they weren't going to animate more sequels for existing Pretty Cure seasons because Yes Pretty Cure 5 Gogo apparently bombed so hard that it nearly cancelled the franchise? Apparently they decided "screw that!" and in March of 2023, announced that two sequel series would be made for both Yes Pretty Cure 5 and Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure, both of which take place after their main series and focus on the Cures after they've grown up. I didn't watch the Yes centered season because 1. I haven't seen both early seasons of Yes Pretty Cure 5, and 2. I legitimately cannot stand Coco's voice in his fairy form. I did, however, watch the entirely of Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure back in 2020-2021, so I could actually watch Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure II: Mirai Days without trouble. Though those of you who read my review for that series will know that I wasn't entirely impressed with it. The setting and premise were interesting, but the series really suffered from bland characters, a half-baked plot, terrible villains, a lack of stakes, not knowing what to do with itself most of the time, and making Ha-chan into a Mary Sue that everybody worships. Not gonna lie, I wasn't sure if this new sequel series would be any good. But hot damn, Mirai Days seemed to go out of its way to address all of my issues with it. Not every attempt it made succeeded, but it sure did try, and is still all the better for it.

It's been a few years since Mirai, Riko, and Ha-chan saved both the human and magic world, and are going down their own paths in life. Riko got to become a teacher at the magic academy, and Mirai has taken up becoming a secret witch hero who saves people in trouble. They both have their work cut out for them. Unfortunately, just when things are finally becoming peaceful, a new threat arises in the form of a mysterious man named Ire, who seems to want to mess with time itself. Mirai and Liko must become Pretty Cure once more and put a stop to whatever machinations he's planning. But who exactly is Ire and what does he want? Where's Ha-chan? Adding to the already mounting questions and mysteries, a mysterious little girl named Hisui, who resembles Ha-chan quite a bit, seems to be at the center of this new conflict.

Because of my dislike for the first series, my expectations for Mirai Days were pretty low. But I decided to give it a chance and see if it'd improve on the first series' problems. Damn, Mirai Days really exceeded my expectations on that front. For one thing, Mirai Days is only 12 episodes long, so there's much less filler and more of a focus on both the plot and fleshing out its characters, which is something the first series really struggled with. Because of its short length, Mirai Days has a much easier time finding its focus and its narrative feels tighter, never straying from its intended purpose. Granted, the actual plot has its own set of issues that I'll explain, but kudos to the series for at least making the effort to learn from its mistakes. The characters are also a marked improvement over the first series. For one thing, Mirai is much less of a stereotypical genki girl and her newfound maturity and worries give her much more depth than the first series really bothered to give her. She's much more down-to-earth, shows more complex emotions, and actually has tangible character flaws that she needs to deal with. Both she and Riko manage to get their own arcs that, thankfully, aren't hijacked by other characters. Even Ha-chan, who I initially hated in the first series, is far more mature and far less annoying here than she was in the first series, even if the plot still revolves around her. Speaking of Mirai and Riko, one thing I really liked about Mirai Days is that it shows how the characters deal with relatable adult problems like buying furniture for a house and applying for an ID, and how Riko, being from the magic world, struggles to do both due to being from a different world and not knowing how things work on Earth. That was a really nice, if morbidly relatable detail that I'm sure many in her position can relate to.

The villains are also a massive improvement from the first series. Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure had terrible villains who not only didn't develop, but were replaced by equally half-baked, underdeveloped villains halfway through. Mirai Days repeats this pattern, but manages to create new villains that are far more compelling and dangerous. Ire, the new villain in the first half, manages to be far more than just your generic Saturday morning cartoon villain, much more competent, and more developed. Even when he's taken out halfway through by another villain, his replacement at least didn't come out of nowhere and was present throughout the series before he makes his true debut. Plus, he's also much more threatening and gives the plot more tangible stakes than I feel the first series did. I remember Isao Murayama, the series' scriptwriter, had mentioned in an interview that he didn't like how he wrote the villains in the first series, which made him try to remedy this in Star Twinkle Pretty Cure. While I still haven't watched Star Twinkle yet, I'm glad to say he managed to remedy his mistakes here quite well.

Not to mention the animation and soundtrack still manage to be pretty good. I do find it really funny that Toei picked Studio Deen to work on this anime, and they're usually known for not being very good. That said, giving credit where its rightfully due, they did a fantastic job at replicating the first series' animation and staying true to the show's original look. You could watch both series and never figure out that both were made by two different companies. I know I give Toei flack for constantly reusing music from other seasons, even when it doesn't make sense to do so. Here, it makes sense because Mirai Days is a direct sequel to Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure. Plus, I actually liked both the opening and ending songs this time around. I admit, I wasn't a fan of the first series' opening, as I found it to be too poppy and obnoxious. Here, the opening has the same lyrics and singer, but the instrumentation is much better and more refined, opting for a more orchestral feel rather than the generic bubblegum pop. Also, thank God the ending didn't go for CGI dancing. That one also has a good song and great visuals that fit the feel of this sequel.

Seriously, Mirai Days addresses so many of my biggest issues with Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure, so this sequel should be a total slam dunk, right? Well...it makes a valiant attempt to fix its parent show's mistakes, and while for the most part it succeeds, not every decision it made stuck the landing. For one thing, while I appreciate the show trying to have more conflict in its plot and trying to have more stakes, but in its attempt to escalate things, the story winds up falling apart in its last couple episodes needing to be resolved with a litany of Deus Ex Machinas that feel like they were just pulled out of the creators' asses just because they wrote themselves into a corner and couldn't figure out how to neatly fix everything. Not only that, Hisui, for all of her supposed importance, just flat-out disappears at the halfway point and she and another character are treated as little more than an afterthought. Everybody seemed to just forget about her at that point even though she was propped up as this super important character. I admit I'm not the biggest fan of Hisui, mainly because she was just an annoying kid who caused trouble and didn't listen to Mirai and Liko (Just like Ha-chan in the first series!), but even I think they did her dirty. Hell, the final episode leaves one character's fate completely unresolved. Not to mention there wasn't enough of Emily, Jun, and Kay. Also, why did they have to make episode 50 of the first series canon? So the first series struggled with having little plot and no stakes, Mirai Days had the opposite problem in that in its attempts to give the series more stakes and more conflict, it wound up getting too ambitious for its own good and fell apart. Also, Mirai Days' very nature as a direct sequel makes it impossible to watch without having seen the first series, and I doubt most people would want to watch a 50-episode show unless they have the time and energy to commit to doing so, or are already fans of Pretty Cure as a franchise.

And yet, even with those problems, Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure II: Mirai Days still manages to be a strong sequel that, for the most part, learned from the mistakes of its parent show and be uniquely compelling. It has its missteps and not every decision it made stuck the landing, but I enjoyed this much more than I did the first series, which should tell you a lot. Not a bad way to celebrate Pretty Cure's 20th anniversary if you ask me. Hell, in my opinion, it's still a better milestone season than Happiness Charge Pretty Cure.