freeocguide

[freeocguide]

Hi! I wanted some help on pairing my Oc. Member of Tennis club. She puts up a tough exterior to mask the pressure she faces from her parents about practicing and going pro. She's a closet tsundere which I know isn't a very good way of describing a personality but it's a general of what I have. There's a profile for her if I need to submit it for more information. I originally intended on pairing her with Makoto but was wary on their personalities. Please help! I would greatly appreciate it!~

if you could submit her profile, or just give me a bit more on her personality, then i’d be happy to help you! i can’t really think of anyone with that little information, so anything to help explain her personality more will be a big help!

[freeocguide]

I'm still in the developmental stages of this fic, so I wanted to ask if this trait was suish to give to my character. He's deathly afraid of water due to a traumatic experience in the past. It would be a huge part of his character and pretty much drive a majority of the plot forward but it seems... Generic. For a free oc at least. So I'm a little worried.

it’s more of a fear than a trait tbh, but it’s a realistic thing to have and can apply easily to your character if you can write it well. i recommend not being really dramatic or “woe is me” with it, otherwise it’ll most likely just have readers rolling their eyes before exiting out of the fic.

panic attacks are natural, however, i doubt your character will start to hyperventilate if they see a puddle or something.

it is pretty generic for a free! fic, but like i said, it can work. most of the fics/ocs that i have seen with this phobia were poorly constructed. and i believed you can make such an element work. so go for it!! do lots of research on the phobia and even read about real-life people who experience it. trust me when i say that it will help you a lot.

[freeocguide]

I was wondering if you knew of any good Free! fanfics including an OC? All the one's I have come across are either Reader inserts or cliche :/

unfortunately, i haven’t.. all the ones i’ve ever come across are either cliche, horribly drama-filled, or just really badly written.

[freeocguide]

I have an OC that is considered very cute/attractive yet she never thinks much about it (though is definitely aware of how people treat her). Many people would confess to her in junior high but she was never ready for a relationship & felt others liked her just for her looks. Would it be too sueish to have a few students jealous of her & spread rumors to damage her reputation? Also, she'll begin to feel 'ugly' and develops an eating disorder due to her lack of confidence/the rumors. Too sueish?

i think this concept is fine for the most part, but there are a few details that stick out to me. like, you said she doesn’t really think about her appearance much, but after the rumors she begins to feel “ugly” — which made me pause because i assumed she didn’t care too much about it?

that’s just going off of the little bit you gave me though, so since i don’t know too much about your oc’s personality you can just dismiss that.

it’s very plausible for some students to get jealous and start petty rumors, but it makes me wonder what exactly the rumors were to make the oc feel ugly and lose confidence, and to also develop an eating disorder on top of that.

i can see her losing confidence, becoming insecure, and closing in on herself if these rumors cause people to look at her differently— but i’m not seeing how she’d feel “ugly”... that’s the main issue here.

feel free to get back to me on this if you have any other questions, or if you’d like to explain the small tidbits i pointed out and etc.

[freeocguide]

This is my OC! I hope you like her!

»shinobu«   thank you for submitting your oc to me! i’m really sorry for taking so long to get to it, aha;;; i have no excuse other than life got in the way and i suck. moving on to the review, there were a few small things i felt needed to be pointed out, as well as some big issues.

fair warning that if you can’t handle an honest critique,, you probably won’t be happy with some of things i have to say. but don’t get me wrong, i’m not trying to be mean! i’m just looking out for you and helping as much as i can.

“…has two scars on both of her hands because she got scratched by the kittens she was bathing.”

i don’t know about you, but i’ve spent my whole life around cats and have worked with taking care of them as well. i’ve had to bathe quite a few cats (young and old) before, and though i’ve been scratched probably a hundred times over— never has the wound left a scar. sometimes it’d leave one if the cat cut deep enough, but it would never stay and would disappear over time. and that’s referring to adult cats. kittens can’t really do much in comparison. so in short, i’d rethink those scars on her hands (or at least list a different cause for them).

“Her hair was pretty messy and the girl tended to get lice.”

on the contrary, lice are mostly drawn to clean/prim hair. having messy/dirty hair will most likely prevent you from getting lice. ugh,, i remember getting lice when i was little and it was horrible. they were literally very hard to get rid of and i ended up just cutting off all my hair to make the treatment moer effective.

anyway, i just think that tidbit about lice is kind of unrealistic, so maybe tweak it? or remove it completely if you’re not up for it, aha.

“…a little makeover since Mika was having trouble with her hair being itchy… Mika got rid of her eyebags and her hair became a lot cleaner and easier to manage. She also had to get braces that year.”

okay, well first i want to say that if you’re trying to take a realistic approach, i’d consider how “cliche disney movie scene” it sounds. one little makeover can’t magically fix all of a person’s problems regarding their appearance. it’d be a nice temporary fix (like for a prom night or etc), but to consistently keep to that whole “gloed up” vibe, the character would have to put in a lot of effort.

mika was given a makeover because she was having trouble with her itchy lice-infested hair… no, i think it’d make more sense for her to just get it treated for lice. the longer you wait, the worse it gets and the more it’ll spread to others. considering it’s a year later, i don’t even want to think about how bad it is. and like i said before, getting rid of lice isn’t easy, especially for those with long/thick/curly hair.

you mention that mika got rid of her eye bags. unfortunately, a “makeover” cannot magically remove those. some remedies that i know of are: drink lots of water, put something cold on your eye (like cucumbers or etc), or use an eye cream. of course this doesn’t get rid of the eye bags right away, but it’s a step forward.

next you mention her hair became a lot cleaner and etc, and honestly she didn’t a makeover for it to become like that. she just needed to take care of it properly before, such as washing it and brushing it… i’m surprised no one scolded/lectured her for the lack of common sense when it comes to personal hygiene.

and as for the last point, if she needed braces, why is she only getting them now because of a makeover? she should have gotten them along time ago if she really needed them.

“…a person to mostly stray from the crowd. Flamboyant… She actually might have different ones. She can be easily influenced…her childhood friend convinced her that the world was such a horrid place. Even though she’s supposed to be intelligent, it’s really hard for her to make decisions… She is mostly quiet and shy… She is open-minded, often being able to see things in different ways from different perspectives. She gets really depressing and mostly talks about how there’s no hope for her.”

i believe it’s very possible for people to be contradicting to their personalities. it is also possible for people to have multiple personalities via a disorder but i don’t think mika applies to either of those things… if anything i feel like her whole personality is a huge mess. it just feels like you found whole bunch of quirks you wanted to use and mashed them all together. don’t fret though, i’ll try and help you see what i mean and we’ll sort them out.

i don’t even know where to start, aha…

…a person to mostly stray from the crowd… …she can be easily influenced… do you see how that doesn’t really add up? if mika is the type to do her own thing and think “outside of the box” while going against the flow/mainstream… why is it that if a crowd of people told her that “ball is life” she’d most likely believe it and start heading to the courts? terrible example but i hope it got the point across lol.

Flamboyant… She is mostly quiet and shy… yet another thing that doesn’t really add up. being flamboyant is being exuberant and confident… and that’s quite the opposite of shy and quiet if you ask me.

also, when you state that she “actually might have different [personalities]” you should probably choose your words more carefully. people don’t just have several personalities on hand, because like i said above, they’re a result of a personality disorder: aka dissociative identity disorder. this disorder is usually a reaction to trauma as a way to help a person avoid bad memories.

and the reason i believe that mika doesn’t have it, is because commonly, these other personalities have a name, personal history, and characteristics. they basically make up a different person. but all of the traits/quirks i read were mika’s and not another personality.

so as a head’s up for if you ever plan to create an oc with a disorder, make sure to write it correctly and do your research.

…convinced her that the world was such a horrid place. She is open-minded, often being able to see things in different ways from different perspectives. if mika is truly open-minded, then she should be able to see that the world is not completely a horrid place. if she is any of the things listed then she’d know that the world has horrid parts, but there is a whole lot of good too.

you then go to state that even though mika is “supposed” to be intelligent, she finds it hard to make decisions. and well, you can smart and wishy-washy/biased at the same time, so i’m unsure on what her intelligence has to do with her making decisions. i get where you’re probably coming from though.

the last thing i was wonder about was the part where “she gets depressing” and etc. i feel like that was added to just for her to get pity from the other characters? that’s…kind of annoying. hopefully there will be something in her backstory to explain it? i’ll just have to continue reading to see.

“She’s always been taught that everyone is just going to let you down and hurt you so that’s what she believes will always happen.”

this piece makes me refer back to how she is supposed to be open-minded. an open-minded person wouldn’t mark everyone down as the same person. they’d understand that everyone is the same and that sometimes yes, things don’t work out for the best, but that doesn’t mean things will always be like that.

“Mika can tend to annoy people with how much she just aggressively memes… She tends to just forget things that always get in the way of her becoming happier. Her temper is also very unpredictable. You don’t know if she’s going to not mind it, get revenge later, or just blow up and try to murder you. She brings tasers with her at all times… Rude as in she would glare at you if you come close to her and that she would act psychotic to get you to go away and leave her alone. It’s also very rare that she’s confident with herself.”

the thought of a supposedly shy/quiet person, annoying other people with memes doesn’t make too much sense.

the part where she “forgets” things that make her unhappy is weird too, considering how depressing you made her out to be before. if her forgetting-things method was actually in play, i imagine she’d be a bit less “emo”.

that temper thing is also a ??? moment for me. agh,, no where in the personality section did you mention anything about her being an aggressive/hot-headed person. with a temper like that you’d think she has anger-management issues, which i think would be important enough to note. her “unpredictable” reactions are unclear as well… it’s true that people express their anger differently, but not in multiple/unpredictable ways like you say mika dos. my advice to you is to pick one and stick to it.

when upset, is mika the “silent anger” type that fumes quietly and glares or etc. is she the “an eye for an eye” type who will get even with the person who slighted her? or is she type that “blows up and will try to murder you” in which case, she should see a counselor or something about that..

she “carries a taser with her at all times” …well, allow me to educate you a bit in the weapon laws of japan. unlike in other countries (namely the us), japan isn’t too keen on people arming themselves and etc, even if it’s for something like self defense. you see, in japan petty crimes and the like are pretty nonexistent. so there really is no reason to keep a weapon on you, even something as tame as a taser.

schools also have rules in place that state you can’t have one on you, and even if you were attacked and had to use the weapon in order to protect yourself… it’d mostly likely be you who got in trouble due to having a weapon in the first place. i know it’s kind of fucked sideways but well, that’s that.

“she’d act psychotic to get you to leave her alone.” um,,, boy. again i’m going to bring up that part where you said mika was mostly quiet and shy. the more i read through this, the more confused i get. please note that there are other ways to get people to leave you alone, and if mika is also as aloof as you stated she was, then her apparent disinterest in others/coldness will be enough to keep others away. and i know from personal experience that if you’re as “emo/depressing” as mika apparently is, then no one is going to want to approach you anyway.

last on this area, you say that it’s rare for her to have confidence in herself. welp, i’m gonna refer to a past statement once again and remind you that you said she was flamboyant, which has to do with confidence.

at this point, i wonder how she ever comes to know the boys since her personality isn’t really something that would draw them in/catch their interest.

“Engineering, building robots, debating, singing, acting, dancing, swimming. You might say that she has too many skills but it makes sense because Mika is rich. Engineering, Debating and Singing are her best talents.”

quick note that four of the skills mentioned here are things that require interactions with others/being around a crowd. if mika is afraid of crowds, and is shy… i don’t really see her excelling in debating, singing, acting, or dancing all that much. i could maybe see it for acting or dancing, as she could just keep her mind completely focused on her performance instead of the crowd around her. i’d say the same for singing, but that requires eye contact and etc. then again! singing and dancing could just be personal hobbies that she does in private, and not in front of a crowd like i had originally assumed.

also, just because someone is rich doesn’t mean it’d make “sense” for them to have a lot of skills/abilities..

yikes…once i got to the bio section i decided that i wouldn’t be able to keep picking things apart because there is just so much that i thought needed to be tweaked. i nearly gave up with this review, but i don’t want to leave you hanging and i want to help you shape mika up to be a pretty realistic oc!

overall, i think you need to scrap mika and start over from scratch. practically everything about her doesn’t fit nor add up. her personality is a mess, and her bio feels like it came out of a cliche drama.

mika’s whole character vibe screams “pity me” and that’s just?? it makes me feel as if you only created her so that you could have the free! characters pity her and etc.. she doesn’t feel like an actual person, and tbh i got a lot of “sue” vibes from her during certain moments.

so yeah, there’s a lot of work to be done but i believe you can do it! if you need help or have any specific questions, then please feel free to run them by me!

i hope this review hasn’t offended you,, as i’m only trying to help by being as honest as i can. lying to you would get us no where, yeah?

[freeocguide]

Quick question! What are the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year tie colors? I thought it was blue, red, and green... But someone told me it was red, blue and green. Thank you in advance!!

they actually vary for each year. upon entering your first year at iwatobi high school, your year is given a select color. for the rest of your time at that high school (through your first, second, and third year) you will keep that same tie/bow color until you graduate.

from there i think it just cycles through. in the series they start from red to green to blue. then the next year it’d be blue to red to green. the next year: green to blue to red and so on.

i listed the canon colors below to give you a better visual if you didn’t quite understand my explanation.

season one:       - first years: red       - second years: green       - third years: blue

season two:       - first years: blue       - second years: red       - third years: green

[freeocguide]

I have an oc who's a surfer? She goes to a private school for girls, sort of the adjacent to Samezuka, but uses the pool they use due to being the only girl in a swimming regiment? It's so confusing, but does this sound okay?

aha yeah that certainly sounds confusing. this is what i think i understand: your oc is a surfer that attends an all-girl private school (which is basically the sister school to samezuka). and she uses the pool at samezuka to practice? that’s the part where you lose me, eheh..

my first concern is, why would she need to use samezuka’s pool, when her school should have one? if it’s because her school pool is usually occupied after school, then the same could be said for samezuka’s. if she doesn’t want to wait until the teams are finished, her best bet would be going to the iwatobi swimming club (if she really wants to take that trip).

second concern: if she’s a surfer, what would practicing in a pool do? you would think her main element would be the ocean.

[freeocguide]

My headcanon for Haru is that he's asexual, yet wouldn't mind a romantic/platonic partnership. He's not sex-repulsed but more indifferent to the idea of intimacy. In fact, he would probably go as far as a sensual level of attraction, while still refraining from doing the dirty. I've been told that this all sounds stupid, but imo it fits his character. The female OC I came up with is his kouhai, who is Demisexual with low-libido. I know this type of relationship is uncommon... What do you think?

i think that sounds perfectly realistic! i’ve always pictured haru as an ace too, as he really doesn’t seem interested in anything besides water, aha.

as for your oc being demisexual, i think that would be fitting as well. so yeah, everything seems perfectly okay to me!

[freeocguide]

Could I submit a character for critique, please? Also, how do I do that?

yes, of course! as said in the “about” page, i review characters and the submit is always open for you to send them in.

as for how to do that, it’s just as you said, you submit it. aha so just use my submit box to tell me about your character, and i’ll look them over to make sure nothing clashes and etc.

if you have trouble getting to my submit page, here is a link.

[freeocguide]

since in the anime a lot of the boys have names that can also be girl names /are girl names, can we do the same with our ocs? give female characters masculine names and vice versa as a gag?

i really wouldn’t recommend it. it’s actually a really overused aspect that i’ve seen people use on free! ocs, and at this point it’s just really cliche. it could also mark as a red flag for a mary-sue.

and i’d like to point out that names likes haruka, makoto, rin, and nagisa, are all unisex. rei and gou seem to be the only characters who drew the short straw when it comes to their names.

[freeocguide]

hello I'm thinking of making a group of ocs who are competitive ocs for the Free! verse and I wanted to know if it could be a combination of both males + females? also if there are any dos + don'ts for making swim teams

sure i don’t see why not! co-ed teams are a thing i’m sure, but i don’t know if there are any official co-ed competitions so i’d stay away from that if you can help it.

[freeocguide]

i am very interested in making my character have white hair, but am nervous about choosing that colour. do you think it is unrealistic? i fear that hair colour may be too much for a relatively modern setting anime. what colours of hair would you recommend to someone who is developing a FREE! fan character?

eh, well any color would do. though the anime is pretty modern and realistic, most of the characters’ appearances aren’t. gou and rin have red eyes and hair, rei’s hair is blue and he has purple eyes, nagisa has pink eyes, and let’s not forget about nitori and the mikoshiba siblings color schemes.

so yeah, it doesn’t really matter. any color could work.

[freeocguide]

Who would be comfortable with a bipolar/split-personality/multiple personality (the traits, not the disorders) OC?

None of those are traits, and it’s kind of worrying that you would consider them to be. As to who would be comfortable with someone with that type of disorder, anyone could be. Not at first maybe, but getting to know the OC and stuff will help them get used to it, and learn how to deal with it.

[freeocguide]

Does Rin have a jogging schedule? Because I kinda had this idea where my OC always meets up with him after school and club activities and his jogging at the park (sometimes she does join him with jogging).

If he has one, it has never been clearly stated. I imagine he goes jogging after school and club activities though, like you’re thinking. He doesn’t exactly have time to do it in the morning, due to school.

[freeocguide]

Is it really wrong to name your OC after yourself?

Nope, don’t see how it could be.

[freeocguide]

Is it okay to have a female OC that is a foreign exchange student, and isn't part of a swim club but does swim around the same time the Free! boys train? Like a public swimmer

Yes, to the foreign exchange student part. No, to them using the pool the same time as the boys do. The swimming pool is exclusive to the swim club, and she’d just be in the way of their training if she attempted to swim while they did. Though, she could swim after their practice is over, with permission of course, as they have to lock the pool up when finished.

[freeocguide]

(I love your blog, btw. Thanks for being so helpful) So, my character isn't in any swim clubs, nor is swimming really her thing, but I thouht to utilize the training part and say she's a track runner, and sometimes help train the guys. Is that okay?

Thank you, and you’re welcome. I made this blog with the goal to help others, so I’m glad that I’m able to do that.

Hm, I think it’s fine if she’s on track, but her sometimes training the guys…? No, that wouldn’t really work realistically. If they needed to be trained, it wouldn’t be from someone on track, as running and etc. has no use to them. Gou takes care of their training perfectly, and they also have the help from Sasabe. 

Besides, if they did need someone of that sort, they would have Rei (who was on the track team, and knowing him, has probably read and researched a lot on the subject).