Yeah it's a real shame this sequel got canceled. The thing is, the original was a solid, realistic Seinen manga, whereas this one feels like it would've done better in a Shounen manga magazine.
But it couldn't have ever been published in a shounen magazine because those kids wouldn't have had the context of the original, so a lot of the developments in this manga would've made no sense to them.
It's a bit of a catch-22. But I can see why this didn't make it nearly as long in a seinen magazine.