By itself, it's the story of a 10 year old Mage who wishes to make it in the world of magic, while also on the lookout for clues about his missing father. He gets an appointment at a girls academy, and (trigger harem flag) must keep being a Mage a secret. That's pretty much it. Each episode different things happen- usually focusing on or involving one of the girls in his class, and slowly reveal.... slowly change Negi into... hm...
'Stuff happens'?
If you are new and wonder if you should start here or with the other version- it depends on how much viewing you plan on doing.
If you just want 'a taste' to decide if you like it, or only want to watch the bare minimum- I recommend you ignore this and go to 'Mahou Sensei Negima!'
If you already plan on watching them all, then I think it would be better to start here.
I'll explain myself in a bit.
I think the idea of 'rebooting' the series was to improve the plot of the first story while keeping the character elements and other parts that worked in the first, and it does improve some of the plotting compared to the earlier version in the early episodes.
It also changes the overall tone of the anime, and makes a few changes I think work against it- so I'll get to that right now.
In this series, there are a few things I like less:
The art is generally lower quality. The multi-camera collages are neat, but don't offset the generally lower quality.
The sound is pretty flat, with minimal special effects.
Many character arcs are quite abbreviated.
The bg music is frequently intrusive, with it's level being too high, or the limited selection itself off-putting.
The Pactio cards (the items produced as a function of Negi making a pact with a partner) are changed drastically in Negima!?- going from a permanent representation of a useful contract, to a disposable reflection of the luck-based, (& frequently gag-like) manifestation
The largest story arc is pretty close to a waste of time.
A lot of episodes within that arc are pretty much filler.
You know how an anime gets cancelled, then the last 6 episodes or whatever are 'trying to wrap up'- where they force everything important in all the sudden? This doesn't do that. It's the opposite- as if they expected it to run for a season, and someone told them 'Hey- you can do another, that's ok, right?'...
Overall, the tone of Negima!? is much more random, nonsense and slapstick- (NOT 'in a good way'). In fact, any gag is probably fair game- so 4th wall breaking dialog, narrator/character conversations, and tons of transitions with quick comments/skits are wedged in. The plots are a lot more loose as well, with one episode being people following a person around most of it, and a bunch relating to the 'Black Rose Baron' mystery character, and the mystery behind them (spoiler- don't expect much, but they play it that way from the start)...
Wheras
Mahou Sensei Negima! was a Magic school faux-harem anime with occasional comedic exchanges. It feels like it was written for teens & maybe younger.
Negima!? on the other hand really tries to be funny a bit too hard- in that even when successful, it frequently lowers the 'magical feel' of the show. It feels like it was altered specifically to suit children- maybe even families. Negima!? is also very slow paced, despite stripping quite a bit out (since they replace it with a lot of nonsense).
Mahou Sensei Negima! -> Negima!?
This sequence is a 'step down' I think. Except for the plotting, most of the other strengths of Negima!? are atypical of the series (randomness, humor)
Negima!? -> Mahou Sensei Negima!
This sequence is a 'step up' in my opinion. Except for the plotting, you'll get improved character arcs, and more natural development. It's also more story focused, with less randomness and forced humor (mostly).
Negima!? isn't bad- it's just not as good as Mahou Sensei Negima!
There is little it adds- in fact it strips out quite a bit more- but even so, I can see people liking either one better (though I think more would like the original based on the character-building alone).
