Originally Posted by Discoceris

No ... if zero affection while performing evolution ... you gain nothing. So you need to pump it to 100% before doing anything else.

Incorrect - evo just doubles the bonus to stats from affection. It does nothing to how much affection there is. You can invest gifts before or after evo.

Incidentally, I'm currently up to 140 character slots in Nutaku FKG and still don't feel I have enough.