The Fruit of Evolution: Before I Knew It, My Life Had It Made (Season One)
When Seiichi’s class was teleported to a new world, something went wrong and he was dropped in the middle of a jungle. Alone and afraid, he had to fight to survive. Luckily, he had been given a unique skill!
The Fruit of Evolution: Before I Knew It, My Life Had It Made (Season One)
What did you watch?
I’m a bit of a sucker for Isekai anime and as such, it was only a matter of time before I found the time to watch The Fruit of Evolution: Before I Knew It, My Life Had It Made. I knew nothing of it other than it was about a boy that was teleported to a new world where he had to get stronger to survive. Oh, and that there was a gorilla that turned into a pretty girl. Who wouldn’t want to watch that? I think it’s pretty clear from the beginning that this series is not taking itself too seriously. Judging on some reviews, that fact was missed by many… Let’s dive in!
What happened?
Seiichi was not the popular kid in his class and when they were informed by a god-like being that they were all about to be teleported to another world to defeat the demon lord, everybody grouped together. Well, everybody but Seiichi. When they were teleported, Seiichi was mysteriously left behind. The voice took pity on him and gave him a bonus skill that would make up for the fact that he would be alone.
When he arrived in the new world, Seiichi was completely alone. For days he barely survived, finding food whenever he could and avoiding the monsters that lived there. One day, he came across some monkeys gathering a strange-looking seed pod. Desperate for food, Seiichi took them. He discovered that they were the mysterious fruit of evolution and when he ate them, his body evolved. Each evolution made him stronger which was lucky because the gorilla in charge of the monkeys had come looking for her fruit!
What did you think?
I mentioned earlier that this series didn’t take itself too seriously and I think that was an understatement. It was most definitely parodying the genre and borrowed a lot of elements from other Isekai shows. There were things from That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime and Arifureta: From Common Place to World’s Strongest. Even the episode titles mocked other shows. If the gorilla turning into a beautiful girl and falling for Seiichi wasn’t a big enough hint then once we met the adventurers’ guild that Seiichi and Saria (the gorilla) joined it should have been crystal clear. This was a fun series. It was light and took things easy with its approach to storytelling, but that worked out fine.
What was your favourite moment?
I don’t think there were any particular standout moments, just lots of little funny ones. So, I’m going to pick the arc where Artoria became a part of Seiichi and Saria’s life for real. She was their instructor for their guild admission challenges, although she had an unfortunate skill that gave her negative luck points. Massively negative luck points that impacted all those around her. Well, Seiichi didn’t care and eventually found an item that would multiply the user’s luck by negative two. Seemed like a crap item, but then he realised that it would be perfect for Artoria. Of course, when he gave her the ring, he kind of accidentally proposed to her. It was a good job that Saria liked Artoria too and was fairly open about the whole thing. Seiichi is one lucky bastard!
What was your least favourite moment?
There were a lot of moments, however, where the storytelling fell apart. One such moment was when Seiichi was visiting the Valkyries and ended up sparring with Louise, the captain. She was an unbelievable fighter and had never lost… until now! After the fight, Claudia took Seiichi aside to thank him and explained Louise’s situation. Then, Louise came in and told him how she didn’t have any friends and had been completely alone. Then, Claudia and Louise hugged like old friends who weren’t friends because they were happy for one another despite the fact that they weren’t friends because Louise didn’t have any… Yeah, it made no sense although I did laugh out loud at the sheer insanity of that moment.
Who was your favourite character?
There were lots of fun characters in the series and loads that didn’t really make an impact and could have been left out entirely. Artoria was not one of those characters. As much as I loved Saria, Artoria was the undoubted best girl in the series. She was interesting and her story could have been a really fascinating one on its own. Of course, she fell for Seiichi and became the third wheel in the relationship between Saria and Seiichi. Who says love is dead?
Who was your least favourite character?
This series probably won’t get a season two and knowing that they could have cut a lot of crap out and still kept it pretty interesting. The most bizarre moment and hence pointless character was the knight that was responsible for training the other students that had been isekaied. He was tracking someone who attempted to kill the king. They fought on a rooftop in a long and drawn-out battle complete with flashbacks and the works. Of course, we had absolutely no reason to care for either of them and had they both died it wouldn’t have changed a single thing in the story.
Would you like some more?
If they made more, I would most likely watch it. It really wasn’t a very good show, but it seemed to keep things light and fun so that you really didn’t mind how well it was put together. Of course, there are far better isekai anime and even better parodies. I’ve seen far worse shows that are trying harder so it was kind of refreshing to see this one actively giving zero shits about stuff like that.
What have you learnt?
The thing that this series has made me think about more than anything is that it was successful enough to be made into an anime in the first place. I can’t imagine the source material is that much better and I think this is a great thing. It shows that you don’t have to be perfect to succeed. Every season there are shows that disappoint. But they are still shows. Someone spent a lot of time making these stories into anime.
Rather than getting annoyed that these shows exist we should take it as inspiration to complete our own projects and put them out into the world. No one is going to turn that story sitting in your desk drawer or on your hard drive into an anime. It’s got to get out into the world for that to happen and it doesn’t even have to be good. Now, I’m not saying just release any old crap. You should always try your best. Just remember it doesn’t have to be a masterpiece to impact someone else’s life. What are you waiting for?
Other Posts in the Series
- Season One
- Episode 1 – Before I Knew It, I Was Living in Another World!
- Episode 2 – Final Evolution! Naked Beauty
- Episode 3 – Artoria, The Calamity
- Episode 4 – Black Dragon God’s Dungeon
- Episode 5 – The Calamity Bride
- Episode 6 – Crying Out Love in the Center of Another World
- Episode 7 – Lulune Appears!
- Episode 8 – Beautiful Valkyrie
- Episode 9 – Black Cat Oliga
- Episode 10 – Creeping Kaiser Empire
- Episode 11 – Monsters VS Crazy Guild
- Episode 12 – Before I Knew It, It’s the Final Episode!?
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