"Greetings," Arceus commented dully as the camera panned out to show him floating next to an all-too familiar canvas. "And now that I've actually bothered to review a thing or two, it's time for another Assessment."

"Oh great, he's back on it," Mew muttered from her place behind the projector. Arceus just rolled his eyes and opted to ignore the quip.

"Now, in keeping with our focus on the anime in the past few chapters, why not take time to analyze another controversial character?" the Alpha Pokémon's face darkened. "Unfortunately, I can't say that this one is as divisive as the previous two."

Arceus gave a nod in Mew's direction, and she began fumbling through the slides in the cart while Arceus cleared his throat.

"And yes, while I will do my best to maintain the objectivity of the previous editorials, I can say that it will be incredibly difficult to given the subject of our analysis today," a picture of Iris then appeared next to Arceus on the projector screen, and he gave a solemn nod. "Yes; Iris."

Arceus the Critic

Why is Iris so divisive?

"It's no secret that her anime rendition was poorly received by the general fanbase; most fans either found her annoying or hated her outright, while a small nebulous hailed her as the new Misty," Arceus deadpanned. "A questionable compliment when you strip away the nostalgia, but you get the point nonetheless."

"We might as well address the former first, seeing as how they're the overwhelming majority," Arceus levitated up a baton and the slides quickly switched out. "While the list of complaints can get miles long depending on who you listen to, many of them simply have their root in one overarching feature; Iris is unlikeable."

The Alpha Pokémon shrugged.

"And while being 'unlikeable' - as subjective a term as that is - is not inherently bad, such a title does not arise of its own accord either; you have to do something to earn ire, and it is here we will examine why," Arceus tapped the canvas with his pointer. "First, and perhaps what set so much of the fanbase against her, was how she treated Ash-"

"If anyone's going to treat Ash like a punching bag, it's the writers!" Mew shouted from behind the projector. Arceus just rolled his eyes.

"Yes, well, understandably her constant butting of heads with Ash didn't do anything to endear her to most. Now, everyone would be right in pointing out that Ash getting into arguments with his travelling companions isn't anything new - indeed, Misty and early May got into frequent arguments with him - but that takes it out of context. What made the issue with Iris different, however, was that Iris was not Misty or May; May and Ash usually apologized quickly and moved on, while Misty has the advantage of nostalgia. Furthermore, this came at a time when fans were already sour about the anime; between Ash snatching idiocy from the jaws of competence and Pikachu losing Volt Tackle, Iris quickly getting into arguments with Ash over many trivial reasons was just icing on the cake."

The Normal Type exhaled. "And here we come to another one of their points; Iris' arguments were not only trivial, but hypocritical. While arguing over trivial matters is not exactly new - one entire episode in the Advanced series was Ash and May arguing over their differences when it came to traveling only to end up in a double battle together, and needless to mention everything Misty and Ash would butt heads over - Iris constantly berating Ash as a "little kid" given her own character and actions was downright outrageous to most, especially since none of the other characters had ever stooped to continuous name-calling. And the sanctimonious nature of it all just further rubbed it in."

"Next," Arceus began. "We come to a less obvious point of theirs; Iris does nothing."

The Alpha glanced up. "And while I suppose that's a bit unfair to her, it is true that - for all intents and purposes - her role is nonexistent for the greater story. Iris wants to be a Dragon Master; that's all well and good, but it unfortunately has absolutely no intersecting goals with Ash's goals of being a Pokémon Master - it's simply loosely defined as capturing as many Dragon Types as possible and becoming good at training them. May, Dawn, and even Serena all have their goals for the story that actually have meaningful impacts on them; Iris more reflects Misty in that she simply tags along with Ash and tries to fulfill a more isolated goal in the process - except she doesn't do a particularly outstanding job of doing that either, seeing as how she only caught a single Dragon Type the entire time she traveled around with Ash. And, finally, the fact she had no intersecting goals with Ash brings us to the natural conclusion of this side's argument; she had no reason to travel with Ash to begin with."

Arceus gave a resigned nod. "Yes; as she had absolutely no intersecting goals with Ash, it would seem that the writers wanted to project a Misty-esque feeling with Iris by having her be a trainer of a specific type who constantly butts heads with Ash. Except they forgot one crucial detail; Misty had a reason to follow Ash to begin with - Pikachu turned her bike into a pile of ash."

"Ba dum tish," Mew muttered with a roll of the eyes. The Normal Type just sighed.

"Iris had nothing; Pikachu only shocked her. Thus, not only does Iris not have a valid excuse to be tagging along with Ash - indeed, she never even gave one throughout the entire run of Best Wishes - but it can simply chocked up as she feels like it, though barely an episode went by without her calling him a little kid."

"So, to sum it up," Arceus began as Mew began rummaging through the slides on the cart. "This side's view of Iris is that she's a poor man's Misty, and a very aggravating one at that. Between being shoehorned into a series that was already forced upon the fans and then proceeding to mercilessly tease Ash, Iris quickly managed to alienate much of the fans and both further drive home their frustration with BW and give it a face."

"Now, as valid as all those points may be, it is still only one side of the argument," the Normal Type titled his head to the canvas, and Mew changed out the slides. "And so, we come to the other camp - while they are predominantly Negaishippers, and thus generally not taken seriously, they still deserve to be heard out."

"The first and most obvious of their points is that Ash and Iris have plenty of similarities - and that's it," Arceus quickly ducked to avoid the rubber Torchic Mew threw in his direction. The Alpha just rolled his eyes. "No, not really. But before we get into that we might as well expound on that as well; this camp isn't wrong when they point out that Ash and Iris both have some similarities; they're both extensively focused on Pokémon, neither shies away from getting into conflicts, and the rivalry Charizard and Dragonite had did make for an interesting dynamic."

Arceus shrugged.

"Those are the most valid comparisons; and as to be expected of, well, fans, they take to deriding other characters, overlooking inconveniences or just blowing things out of proportion to fill in the gaps - for an example of the latter two, some in this camp have cited Iris letting Axew rest in her hair being another similarity to Ash's own habits, and rightfully so, though the obvious counter is that is hardly unique to Iris given both Dawn and Misty carried select Pokémon around," the Alpha Pokémon cleared his throat. "Another one of their points is that Iris wasn't the flat character most of the fanbase made her out to be; that she did get development."

Arceus shrugged again. "To the extent that she got and retained it is debatable, but she ultimately did get some rather noticeable amount starting with the Plasma arc. However, this is irrelevant to most who dislike her; Iris' character was already too firmly fixed in their minds, and what development she did get did little to redeem her in their eyes."

"That some Negaishippers went so far as to say that Ash's other companions were boring, whiny or flat compared to Iris-" the Normal Type lowered his head in a futile attempt to hide his snickering, which quickly turned into uneven laughter. "And that she is perfect for Ash and the only interesting travelling companion of his probably didn't help matters for them in general."

"And that's really it," the Normal Type deadpanned, cutting off his laughter with an uneasy cough. "The first camp - the one that hates Iris' guts, which is the overwhelming majority of the fanbase - views her as being a poor man's Misty, and an obnoxious, poorly done one at that. That she is a poor man's Misty has also, perhaps a bit unfairly, made her the focal point of many of the frustrations regarding the unwelcomed changes that came with Best Wishes. Her continuous berating of Ash, hypocritical comments and needlessness only cemented this side's opinion of her as being arguably one of the worst characters in Pokémon history, and left many wondering why they couldn't have just gotten Bianca or even Skyla if they were that insistent on a Gym Leader."

Arceus nodded in Mew's direction, and she powered down the projector.

"The other side holds the exact opposite opinion; it is precisely because Iris is a poor man's Misty that happens to share more similarities with Ash that they enjoyed her character so much, and for those that favored Best Wishes' changes, her outspokenness was another boon for them, and that she faced more internal issues and development than Misty did succeeded as cementing her as a strong character in their mind," Arceus sighed.

"And, as with many other characters, both camps - even if they are rather lopsided this time - have valid points and arguments, of which I'm certain I missed a few."