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Unlike the majority, I enjoyed having Iris in the show. First of all, her union with the nature and innocent personality in heart was just too nice to be in this show. I don't think any main character before her was united with the nature as much as Iris was. In one of the early episodes, right before the To Be Continued screen (probably the one Dento joined them), Iris just spreaded her arms and ran in front of everyone with Axew, both enjoying the moment. This was just heartwarming at best.
I understand why Iris is disliked, but it's seems a bit silly. Calling Ash a kid when he's at his most childish makes sense.
IMO, Iris's biggest problem was she got stuck with BW Ash instead of OS or AG Ash, who were far less sanitized and were more snarky. I think they were trying to recreate the dynamic Ash had with Misty, the problem is they forgot that it worked for Ash and Misty because the banter wasn't one-sided. BW Ash rarely snapped back, so Iris just came off as harsh and repetitive.
IMO, Iris's biggest problem was she got stuck with BW Ash instead of OS or AG Ash, who were far less sanitized and were more snarky. I think they were trying to recreate the dynamic Ash had with Misty, the problem is they forgot that it worked for Ash and Misty because the banter wasn't one-sided. BW Ash rarely snapped back, so Iris just came off as harsh and repetitive.
I think that was part of the problem, but I think another issue was that Misty often had valid points when she argued against Ash. She was only a bit more experienced than Ash given the Pokemon she had on her at the start of the series, but she still had more knowledge about Pokemon and calling Ash out on his mistakes felt more justified. Even if we ignore Ash's experiences from previous series, Iris wasn't really in any position to talk down to Ash. She couldn't get Axew to use Dragon Rage, the weakest of all Dragon type moves, and she was just as immature as Ash could be, if not more so. Iris calling Ash a little kid or getting upset over what decision he'd make in battle really made her look more like a giant hypocrite instead of someone to laugh at or side with.
Good assessment. Still think that it would have been better to let her be her own character, but the bigger problem was a lack of understanding why Misty worked.
It also wasn't just Ash being snarky. Misty's first impression of Ash is a kid who got his Pikachu hurt and damaged her bike which:
A. As we know from the games they can be pretty costly.
B. Something Suede pointed out in his episode reviews is that as a person who got hand me downs, having anything belonging to just her is a big deal.
And of course using a Caterpie against a Pidgeotto which was not only inept, but endangered his Pokémon needlessly. Heck it says a lot for Misty to be angered by him endangering his Bug Pokémon despite her dislike of him/Caterpie. Plus getting the Badges without defeating a Gym Leader* and not bothering to train for a League he was eager to compete in.
Basically it felt like Misty's criticism was from an honest place trying to convince him to shape up.
Iris felt like the internet troll who doesn't care if you improve, she just wants to annoy him. I mean the writers had no qualm with rehashing this, might as well have had Ash damaging another bike.
It would at least justify her imposing on him and the ribbing more.
In short, Iris is like Diana Cavendish from the OVA take on Little Witch Academia where she likes to get on the protagonist's case just cause. Misty is like the Diana from the following TV Series version where she is rightfully calling the protagonist out for arrogance and other flaws.
*Yeah I do get the sediments behind them and trying to not be dull/repetitive, but take the Cascade Badge. It would be like letting Ash win the 5th Round of the League cause Richie wouldn't have had a chance if Charizard obeyed Ash fully.
That stuff never really bothered me. Because the whole point is that she is a hypocrite.
game3524 said:Also Misty could be just as hypocritical. She gets on Ash for his inability to train Charizard properly, even though Psyduck can't use any attacks. She got on Ash for using Caterpie against Pidgeotto and yet a couple episodes later she sends Goldeen on land against TR. The difference here is that Ash actually called Misty out or made fun of her flaws as a trainer, so it didn't look like Misty was just bullying Ash or being overly critical all the time. In BW, Ash wasn't doing that stuff so Iris came off looking worse then the writers actually intended.
A better written Ash in BW would have fixed a lot of issues Iris had IMO, same thing can be said for Trip.
I realize that was the point, but that still bothered me a lot because they rarely called Iris out for being a hypocrite. If it was supposed to be funny, then I don't think it worked and they never really went anywhere meaningful with these flaws. They just doubled down on making her a super special gifted Dragon Master in training in spite of being a massive hypocrite. Virtually all of her accomplishments were handed to her on a silver plate too.
To be fair, Ash not training Charizard properly was more of a potential danger than Misty not being able to use Psyduck without its deus ex machina powers kicking in. It still doesn't make her look good in that sense, but I don't think the two problems are entirely on the same level. I also don't think that using Goldeen on land makes her look like a hypocrite when that was mainly a gag used a handful of times. Misty wasn't always in the right either, but I still think that she was more justified in calling Ash out than Iris ever was.
I honestly don't think that BW Ash was written that badly in retrospect. He still had some major issues, but I think a lot of it boiled down to his team more so than Ash himself. Having more banter could have helped make Iris' personality more tolerable, but I don't think that was as major of a factor compared to her own flaws not being addressed or that she wasn't in the position to belittle anyone for their battle skills or maturity.