Review of The Fruit of Evolution: Before I Knew It, My Life Had It Made

Review: Shinka no Mi: Shiranai Uchi ni Kachigumi Jinsei TLDR: I expected very little and was positively surprised. While the animation is lacklustre, I would recommend the series as a B-Tier anime. ... that is, up until ep 8, from there on it goes downhill fast. Also, don’t watch the previews, they spoil a lot. NOTE: Most of the review below is only applicable up until episode 8-ish. for an episode 8-12 review, scroll down to the bottom. --Enjoyment-- 7/10 It is enjoyable, the funny parts are actually fun. It leans towards being a gag-comedy; Events takes unexpected turns and seemingly one-shot characters have unexpected dept. Even when the gags fall flat, theirnovelty is still appreciated

--Story and Pacing-- 4/10
The overall plot is simple, but cohesive. Despite the OP isekai protagonist trope being is horrendously overused, I think it pulled it off okay. But that might just be due to my standards being low because of an overwhelming exposure to shit-tier nonsensical plots.
It lacks a sense of direction, and most of the time MC is planning only 1 step ahead.
While my suspension of disbelief was stretched at times, things made sense overall.

There are multiple plots running in parallel. The side plots are bland and barely watchable, as per tradition. But they are mercifully short, thank God.

The pacing is on point

--MC-- 8/10
MC is funny and has a bit of personality. His OP-ness is of the gain-skill kind + insane stats. He is pretty powerful, but not too OP.
He starts out as an outcast loser, with the sole saving grace being how detailed he is compared to his classmates. Unfortunately, as he gains power, he becomes more and more generic looking, until he has that one ultimate-generic-anime-guy look. Such is the price for power smh.
But despite quickly gaining overpowered stats, he is still retarded. He is dumb enough for it to be entertaining, but not so dumb that it gets frustrating.
The standard for harem issekai protagonist is pathetically low, so this one score top marks.
Bonus points for actually showing MCs stats and equipment at the end of each episode. Very much appreciated.
... and bonus points take away, because they mean jack shit.

--Characters-- 7/10
The main cast is likeable and non-tropey.
Support characters are varied and wacky.

Saria was an unexpected, but welcome character. What seemed like a one-shot character suddenly became a part of the main cast. The plot-twist really took me by surprise.
The characters act according to their motivations and despite most of them being a bunch of weirdos, their interactions feel natural. That is, apart from the villains.
The villains are puppy-kicking evil bastards, except for the monsters MC slay. They have tragic backstories to back them up.

--Worldbuilding-- 4/10
It’s okay. If you just accept the whole RPG-loot system as being another natural law, then it´s alright.
Much of the worldbuilding is barebones, but serviceable.
Details such as "daily life magic" is pretty cool, but overall, it’s a bit light on the details.

--Visuals-- 2/10
The quality of the visuals varies. Greatly. It’s okay most of the time, but the initial 15 seconds almost made me drop the series on the spot. The visuals were average; for a 2012 release. While the level of detail has improved since then, the "grainy" quality is atrocious. An oversaturated bloom effect was added to hide how bad it was, but only served to make it worse.
Luckily, it gets better. And while it never gets "good", its bearable. The main characters are nicely done, serves to make the contrast between them and everyone else even clearer. Some of the support characters looks like straight up trash from some 90s kids’ anime. It’s almost funny.
Blur and other visual effects are used to great effect (except for in the initial scene), making what would otherwise be unwatchable garbage into something bearable, despite lacklustre animations.
The number of panning shots still piss me off, if I wanted I slideshow I would have booted up a PowerPoint.

--Audio-- 8/10
The sound is good. The voice-acting is expressive, if nothing else. It is too over the top for my taste, but that’s just preference. The effect and soundtrack are pretty novel, dragging the score up immensely.
One track in particular is a total banger. It’s too bad that it gets reused a bit too often.

--OP + ED-- NA/10
OP is standart. EDs visuals is both simple and inconsistent. Horrendous. I won’t let a bad OP/ED drag down the score as I’m not watching the TV release, if I don’t like it, I will just skip it.

---Episode 8-12---
(Spoilers below)
--Enjoyment-- 3/10
Separating the main cast was a huge mistake. MCs lollygagging has been reduced and new characters desperately hog the screentime. MC flexes his powers in the lamest ways possible and the focus is on the garbage non-plot plot.

--Story and Pacing-- 2/10
The story is leading nowhere, not that I expected it to lead anywhere at this point. Subplots with unmet and uninteresting characters pop up like weeds and the main story stalls. The only saving grace is that it is not nonsensical.
The pacing is fine.

--MC-- 2/10
MC is like a paper bag, floating in the wind. He occasionally uses his OP powers to do something OP.
He feels like a generic isekai MC.

--Characters-- 3/10
The "old" cast get less and less screentime. Random hoes are introduced. The Harem is officially established, but consists of only 2(maybe 3) members, and is limited to handholding.
The villains are still puppy-kicking evil bastards and no new support characters are introduced. Gimmick characters should not be reused too often.

--Worldbuilding-- 2/10 - Kids morning show level worldbuilding.
Everything begins to tear at the seams. Multiple significant events happen to the kingdom of the good guys, including an assassination attempt by the bad guys. The only reason I accepted knowing jack shit about the world is because it didn’t matter. This is a total betrayal of that expectation. I mean, not even once has a map been shown.
The entire level/stats system has STILL not been explained. Why is the slimes level 89? If MC only got 15 levels after killing a god, how many gods has the slimes killed? Nobody knows.
While I did not expect much, I expected more than this.

--Visuals-- 1/10
The visuals drop off sharply from middle of ep 8, from one frame to another. It’s like their lead designer died or something.

--Audio-- 6/10
A lot of the tracks are recycled.

---Verdict---
The entertainment value and visuals weight a great deal in my scoring. I found it somewhat entertaining but the lack of consistency in the visuals was jarring at best. I cannot, with good consciousness, recommend this to anyone with a screen-resolution above 480x360.
The last episodes totally dropped the ball too, if I had not committed myself to writing this, I would have dropped it.
Score for ep 1-8: 4/10
Total score: 3/10