Negima!? abandons the source material entirely and doesn't apologize for it, letting SHAFT rip into pure visual comedy instead of pretending to be a serious adventure story. The gags land because they're weird enough to catch you off guard, and the cast has actual personalities instead of just existing to surround the protagonist. Second half collapses into incoherence, but by then you're watching for the jokes, not the plot.

Ten-year-old wizard Negi Springfield, a prodigy fresh from the Magic Academy, continues his training as a teacher at Mahora Academy in Japan. Earning his Master's in magic means guiding the thirty-one schoolgirls of Class 3-A. A year into his post, two envoys from the Magic Academy arrive with news that a powerful artifact called the Star Crystal has vanished, and its power begins to affect Negi and his students. Together the class battles the rising darkness at their school while Negi searches for his missing father. The result mixes comedy, ecchi, romance and fantasy adventure.