Iris the Backseat Driver?

[Teshub]

The unfortunate thing about the BW opening, we can't see that many spoilers. In the DP first OP we saw Zoey and Buneary as Dawn's pokemon (even thought she caught it sometime after the 4th episode).
There's also the promotional factor. Unlike the OS, the newer series put much more focus on introducing different pokemon from the new generation and elements from the games. So I think Misty Mermaid episodes will be fewer as such. This is confirmed from the thread on the number of fillers in each series, which OS/Johto having the most fillers (ie. episodes that dont introduce a pokemon).

 

[Pseudo-Unlegendary]

Iris and Dent are the next Brock and Misty, they won't be appreciated 'til their gone.

 

[pokenutter]

Something that I've noticed is that people think that I started this thread as a way to suggest that Iris will do nothing. I'm just saying that I wish we'd find out what her ultimate goal is and what her strengths are. Most characters revealed that much before episode 10 of their series, so I want the same from Iris.

 

[CyberCubed]

Iris and Dent are the next Brock and Misty, they won't be appreciated 'til their gone.

Are you being serious?

 

[John Shephard]

okay to be honest i really hate Iris, from the subbed episodes i watched i completely hate her, i'd almost perfer dawn and her piplup over her thats how much i hate her.. treating and calling ash a child because he's new to the region and doesnt know much about is just stupid. the cheek fetish she has is stupid every part of her is stupid including the damn hair of hers..and oh ya her dragon pet has not done anything and i dont even remember seeing it in the last episode

 

[Blazenuva]

okay to be honest i really hate iris, from the subbed episodes i watched i completely hate her, i'd almost perfer dawn and her piplup over her thats how much i hate her.. Treating and calling ash a child because he's new to the region and doesnt know much about is just stupid. The cheek fetish she has is stupid every part of her is stupid including the damn hair of hers..and oh ya her dragon pet has not done anything and i dont even remember seeing it in the last episode

ME NO LIKE IRIS. She different. Me hate different.

 

[Teshub]

okay to be honest i really hate Iris, from the subbed episodes i watched i completely hate her, i'd almost perfer dawn and her piplup over her thats how much i hate her.. treating and calling ash a child because he's new to the region and doesnt know much about is just stupid. the cheek fetish she has is stupid every part of her is stupid including the damn hair of hers..and oh ya her dragon pet has not done anything and i dont even remember seeing it in the last episode

Come on now, that's not fair to say. Wait until the "trio" has become complete, and we can expect more character interactions....right?

But the anime director pretty much sums up what BW is about. It gives the reason why Ash is the only hero in this series.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/entertainment/tv/tnews/20100929-OYT8T00743.htm

ストーリー展開も大きく変更される。前シリーズのポケモンＤＰは、サトシのほか一緒に旅する少女ヒカリのダブル主演で、２人の葛藤(かっとう)や成長などを描いた群像劇となった。ポケモンＢＷは主人公をサトシ一人に絞り、「第１シリーズのように未知のポケモンとの出会いを強調した原点回帰」（湯山総監督）が図られる。

　かつてない大規模な刷新が試みられるポケモンＢＷだが、湯山総監督は「ポケモンは、夏休みの一日を描いたようなもの。世界観や登場人物などが変わっても、旅先での新たな出会い、友達との宝物交換などを思わせる話の根幹は変わらない」と語る。これまで築いてきた基本を継承しつつ、サトシらの新たな冒険が始まる。

The story arc has greatly changed. In Pokemon DP, the former series, it was a duo starring Dawn traveling alongside Ash. It became a group play that described the challenges faced by the two, their growth, etc. Pokemon BW squeezes the hero role to only one person, Ash. "We went back to the starting point to emphasize the meeting of unknown pokemon like in the first series", said director Yuyama. That was the attempt.

Thought this unprecedented large scale reform was tried on Pokemon BW, Yuyama says "I envisioned pokemon like a day of summer vacation. Even if the look of the world and characters change, and there are new meetings on the trips, the basis of the story of amicability and friendship doesn't change".

 

[KibaLG8]

Something that I've noticed is that people think that I started this thread as a way to suggest that Iris will do nothing. I'm just saying that I wish we'd find out what her ultimate goal is and what her strengths are. Most characters revealed that much before episode 10 of their series, so I want the same from Iris.

It doesn't take much to figure out what Iris is going to be doing. Let's flashback to Kanto for a bit, Misty & Brock were water & rock type gym leaders, Brock wanted to be a breeder, Misty wanted to be the strongest water type trainer. In Isshu, we have Iris, a dragon type gym leader(Pokemon White only) and Dento is a Grass type gym leader. Dento wants to be/is a sommelier. So in a sense, Dento & Brock are the same, having some goal that isn't as broad as gyms and contests. People say Isshu is Kanto 2.0, so putting the pieces together, we could assume Iris wants to be the strongest Dragon type trainer, we just have yet to see it. I can also however, see Iris wanting to become the best gym leader, since she is just in training(if she is in-training).

 

[Sandstormmaster]

Going to throw a theory out there and it's just that, a theory.

I think the writers made iris into fodder because of their previous two main girls. May And Max seemed like they would last longer then they did. They had to get rid of them and gave may time to develop an out. Dawn seemed to be even more important and the writers seemed to be setting up something grander for her but they were rushed because of BW and had to give her a hurried out. Maybe they just thought to themselves "you know what f*** it, lets not put much focus on the new girl because she'll be gone by the end of the saga anyway" that's how I'd feel if I put so much time on two characters only to have them shafted. I thought this would happen even before iris was revealed so my personnel opinion of her is irrelevant (I'll admit that I dislike her, well loathe her).

Either what I just wrote or she will have an important role with either/or the final gym (being ash's final isshu gym battle) or the legendary arc.

Btw I think it's ok to feel biased towards fictional characters as long as it's not taken too far. How many of you hate piplup but the Japanese love the guy? (I have no feeling towards it one way or another)

 

[Magiclapras]

She'll do something, even if it means having a crush on Ash. Been plenty of hints there already...

Being serious, she might get a bigger role later in the series.

 

[Cazak]

Being serious, she might get a bigger role later in the series.

Yeah, like near the 8th gym.

 

[Sandstormmaster]

No more shippings, for the love of arceus no more shippings!

 

[ijea4444]

Don't worry she'll be over-displayed once plasma/box legends plot begins brewing. Everyone here needs to stop assuming the entire series based on 4 episodes, calm your speculating-crazy asses down.

 

[Eternal Darkness]

Don't worry she'll be over-displayed once plasma/box legends plot begins brewing. Everyone here needs to stop assuming the entire series based on 4 episodes, calm your speculating-crazy asses down.

Ahh but here it is...

Of course I thought the second episode would be focused on Iris but Ash caught Pokemon instead. Shows what I know. But I like Ash having the frontseat again. It makes him look a lot better.

 

[Teshub]

Iris is more of the Easy Rider than the backseat driver. She is not officially stuck with Ash, she just happens to go to the places he goes to. It's like, she is more independent than previous girls who kind of needed Ash and Brock for guidance/protection.

 

[ZgonDuck]

Iris seems so know what she's doing, she's more like "we're gonna get there, but let's see how Ash drives, and if he drives off a road I'll get him out".

What ever it is they have planned for Iris, they're at least dropping some hints for it. She had this look about her in at Dent's Gym, like she was studying how Ash battles and his Pokemon choices. I'm pretty psyched for what she does.

 

[pokemon fan 132]

I cant believe that after just 5 episodes people are already complaining about Iris status in this show.

To form valid judgment about something we should wait little longer(for about 20 episodes when BW steps in)before we jump with conclusions.Its obviouis how Iris role wont be as big as May or Dawns was but its not like that matters much to me with quality being more important.Character who receive less can also have great development contribuing to several aspects of series.

Im sure soon enough Iris role and what her goal might be will be revealed(after Dento joins) and it could be something either about dragons or having something to do with Team Plasma considering she has connection with them in games.

Of course posibillity of Iris wanting to become gym leader isnt excluded either.

Iris is the new Misty; be prepared for her to do nothing at all yet still get tons of fans.

Define nothing.

In my opinion, Iris is already a better character than the previous girls who traveled with Ash.

After just 5 episodes?Well i agree Iris is good character but to me May and Misty are still better.

Also Misty didnt do anything but she was given a cameo too, so I am sure Iris will get a cameo too, unless she doesn't leave Ash's group yet.

How exactly Misty didnt do anything?

Just because someone didnt had luxury to receive huge amounts of screentime like May or Dawn did doing contests or gyms doesnt mean how he didnt contributed to story having some great development.Misty did things,writers did mistake of not giving her more of a role but she did played role of coach and mentor to Ash,bringing humor,battled more in trainer battles than other girls if we dont count contests did having accomplishments.

As Isshu is a Kanto clone, Ash needs an Isshu Misty.

Meh in that case,im more for bringing original (Misty) back.They surely have lot of unused material to develop her more.

The writers have supposedly become wiser, so when we learn Iris' goal, it will probably get the same attention as Misty's water training dream.

Considering writers improved acknowledging mistakes they did in past,Iris goal if she have one will probably receive more attention.

 

[BWfan]

I've read about 5 threads on the 1st page and I must say: You guys speculate too much.

Tip: Why not speculate what will happen 3-4 episodes from now instead of 75 episodes into the future? Or wait and watch? You guys comlain too much.

 

[CyberCubed]

I think the writers made iris into fodder because of their previous two main girls. May And Max seemed like they would last longer then they did. They had to get rid of them and gave may time to develop an out. Dawn seemed to be even more important and the writers seemed to be setting up something grander for her but they were rushed because of BW and had to give her a hurried out. Maybe they just thought to themselves "you know what f*** it, lets not put much focus on the new girl because she'll be gone by the end of the saga anyway"

Are you serious? The writers very likely always intended to drop Dawn when DP ended, it was planned from the start which is also why DP was stretched out as long as it was.

I'll agree though that when May was brought in, it originally seemed like she was going to last longer than she did. Its probably because back then we didn't know the cycle of female characters yet, and it made no sense to bring May into the series, get rid of Misty, only to then have May leave as well after only 4 years.

It might also be because May arguably got two sagas, even if Battle Frontier was just an extension of AG. Seeing a character go through two regions and two contests arcs made it seem like she lasted longer than Dawn, even if it was only by like 2 episodes more.

 

[TicoPokemonMaster]

Are you forgetting that Iris showed a BIG interest to Ash telling her about Zerkom. Plus it only been 5 episodes. One introduced the region, starters, Zerkom, rival. Another formally introduced Iris and kibago, Ash and Jessie first captures. Two episodes were dedicated to two of the three starters joining Ash. and the 5th ep introduced Dento and is the first gym. How about making a thread of how James is a backseat driver to team rocket. he is walking around with no pokemon and as of now hasn't shown much development