Iris (anime)

Iris is a young girl who is one of Ash's travelling companions in the Unova region. She takes on the role similar to Misty's. As such, a running gag consists of her calling Ash a little kid, more recently just to tease him which annoys him.

Appearance
She has purple hair, brown eyes, and dark skin. Iris wears a cream-colored top with a pink collar and cuffs, a pink skirt with a big ribbon, white leggings which are colored yellow at the ends of the legs and pink and white shoes with yellow straps.

For swimming, Iris wears a one-piece pink and magenta swimsuit. For pajamas, she wears an elbow-length pink sleeved shirt and shorts.

Personality
Iris is seen to be as a wild girl as she likes swinging on vines and berries. She is shown to be an experienced trainer as shown when Ash fails to catch a Pokémon and she calls him a little kid. She is quite similar to Misty but seems to be more energetic. She has the dream of becoming the greatest Dragon Master and believes that dragons are good. Like dragons, Iris has been shown to be afraid of Ice-type Pokémon. This has shown in Crisis at Ferroseed Research! and relatively Ice-types are the weakness of Dragon types.

Biography
When she was little, Iris spent most of her time playing with wild Pokémon. One day, a Drilbur took Iris' friend Patrat's home. For ten days, Iris kept challenging the Drilbur, but Iris continued losing to it. On the tenth try, she was able to fight, but Drilbur almost fell from the top of a cliff. Iris saved him, and he became her Pokémon.

They entered the tournament of the Dragon Village, and won. During the final battle, Drilbur evolved into Excadrill. However, Iris and Excadrill lost their 100th battle against Drayden, who secretly nods to the Elder. Iris is a wild girl that Ash met while traveling in the Unova region. Ash first encountered Iris by mistaking her hair for a Pokémon (since he saw her in a bush picking berries and used his Pokédex, which told him that the Pokémon was in her hair.) He then threw a Poké Ball at her head, and she then yells at Ash but soon becomes quick friends with his Pikachu, by hugging him and poking his cheeks which caused him to zap her, for Pikachu gets mad when he gets annoyed by another trainer. Her goal used to be a secret to Ash and Cilan, though it is revealed in The Dragon Master's Path!, that her goal was to become a dragon master. She also wishes to see the legendary Pokémon Zekrom.

Iris, like Ash, Dawn, and Misty, seems to have her partner Pokémon stay out of its Poké Ball on most occasions. Her partner Pokémon is Axew, the Tusk Pokémon. However, despite the fact, it doesn't go into its Poké Ball and Axew just jumps into Iris' hair whenever she decides to actively go somewhere.

She is bold and adventurous. She appears to be a wild child and has been seen swinging from vines in the forests to get from place to place. She also seems to have very good reflexes in avoiding attacks. Like Misty at the start of their journey, Ash is in the dark that Iris may or may not be a Gym Leader. Also like Misty, Iris thinks Ash is a little kid but helps him out since he doesn't know a lot about the Unova region.

In Iris and Excadrill Against the Dragon Buster!, she meets Georgia, her rival, who defeated her when they first met. She also told Ash and Cilan of how she obtained her Excadrill: When she was younger she played with all the Pokémon in the forest and learned that a bully Drilbur stole a Patrat's food.

In Movie Time! Zorua in "The Legend of the Pokémon Knight"!, she entered the Don Battle Tournament and won the Wing Set. Iris cheered on for Ash in his Gym Battle with Elesa. Then she and Ash have some fun in Nimbasa City visiting all the attractions. Iris also meets Champion Alder, had the opportunity to befriend some Deino that belonged to other trainers, and she also dressed as a shrine maiden to summon Landorus.

In Clash of the Connoisseurs!, Iris appeared to be glad that the Opelucid City Gym was temporarily closed, meaning that she may be the Gym Leader there. She visited her hometown and helped her friend tame her Hydreigon, after which she was challenged by Drayden, but was defeated.

In Jostling for the Junior Cup!, Iris entered the Junior Cup. Her first round was against her rival, Georgia. Iris used Dragonite and Georgia used Beartic. Despite Dragonite not listening to her, Iris defeats Georgia and advances to the quarter-finals. In the 2nd round, she battled Dawn. Dawn used her Mamoswine and Iris used her Dragonite again. Dragonite listened to her at first, but he disobeyed her again. Despite that, Iris defeats Dawn and advances to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, Iris battled Ash. Ash used his Krokorok and Iris used her Dragonite. During the battle, Dragonite was starting to listen to Iris which is why she was winning. The battle started to take a turn when Ash's Krokorok evolved into Krookodile. Ash's Krookodile learned Dragon Claw and he used it on Dragonite, which is super-effective. After he had been hit by that attack, Dragonite started to lose control. Ash's Krookodile then used Crunch on Dragonite. Still not listening to Iris, Dragonite used Dragon Rush, which Ash's Krookodile dodged by using Dig. Then he jumped out and used Stone Edge, which was also super-effective. This attack knocked out Dragonite, giving Ash the win, and Iris was eliminated from the Junior Cup.

In Beauties Battling for Pride and Prestige!, Jervis suggests to go through Opelucid City to get to the Unova League in Vertress City. Iris quickly says she would rather pass through the Village of Dragons, supporting the fact that she's been trying to avoid Opelucid City. Ash and Cilan agree, to Iris' relief. Later in the episode she makes them dress as women to get revenge on three women for calling her Pokémon "unattractive." After arriving at the village, she had her Axew examined by the elder, and she gave it her seal of approval. After dealing with a Hydreigon that belong to her friend, Drayden challenges her to a battle, which she accepts. At Opelucid City, she explains that she didn't fit in with the other kids. After the battle, it is revealed that Iris was to eventually succeed Drayden as the new Opelucid City Gym Leader.

After the events with N she joined Ash and Cilan on their journey to the Decolore Islands. Along the way she gets into a fight with Ash but they make up.

Following their adventures in the Decolore Islands, Iris decides to travel to Vermilion City, where she hopes to meet and train all Dragon-type Pokémon and become the next Dragon Master. She is last seen boarding a train that goes to Vermilion City with Cilan, bidding Ash and Alexa farewell.

Iris eventually traveled to Johto's Blackthorn City to battle Clair, where she encountered a wild Gible causing trouble. After saving him, she sensed how he ended up in town and was told by Clair that he might have come from the Dragons' Holy Land. After bringing him back, they returned to the gym; Iris was surprised to find Gible came to cheer her on. Using Dragonite against Clair's Druddigon, Iris sensed his thoughts but still lost. Outside, she managed to catch Gible and left Blackthorn City before following a wild Rayquaza to find out where it's going.

Voice actresses

 * English: Eileen Stevens
 * Japanese: Aoi Yuki
 * Dutch: Sophie Hoeberechts
 * Spanish: Belen Rodriguez
 * Mandarin Chinese: Lin Meixiu
 * Finnish: Saara Aalto
 * Brazilian Portuguese: Agatha Paulita
 * Latin American Spanish: Susana Moreno
 * Polish: Justyna Bojczuk

Achievements

 * Don George Battle Tournament: Winner
 * Clubsplosion: Top 8 (Loses to Montgomery)
 * Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup: Top 4 (Loses to Ash)
 * Wishing Bell Festival: 4th place
 * Marine Cup tournament: Top 16
 * Grand Harvest Festival Pokémon Sumo Tournament: Top 16

Trivia

 * Iris is named after the Iris Flower which is a native flower to Africa and North America. Also in Greek mythology, Iris is the goddess of the rainbow.
 * Iris is the first main character in the anime series to keep her Japanese name.
 * Iris is the second of Ash's companions to have an -type Pokémon. The first was Dawn.
 * Coincidentally, both Dawn's Pachirisu and Iris' Emolga are based on a type of squirrel.
 * In Ash and Trip's Third Battle!, Iris was revealed to have a fear of -type Pokémon, the same way Misty has a fear of -Type Pokémon.
 * Iris' fear of Ice-type Pokémon may be a reference to -type Pokémon being weak against -type moves
 * Iris once had a fear for -type Pokémon when she was young.
 * Iris has currently won two Tournaments in the course of the anime series so far.
 * The first was back in her youth which was the Dragon Village Tournament, the second being the Don Battle tournament.
 * Iris and Axew are similar to Zoroark and Zorua in Zoroark: Master of Illusions. Axew loves to hide in Iris' hair, same as Zorua. Iris leaps around the way Zoroark did. Iris' hair is the same style as Zoroark.
 * Iris is Ash's first female companion that didn't have a bike.
 * Because of this, Iris stopped the running gag of getting the female companion's bike electrocuted by Pikachu.
 * Iris is the second of Ash's female companion who is a complete tomboy, first was Misty, and that excels in physical capabilities.
 * Furthermore, she is the first female companion not to have any feelings on Ash.
 * Iris is the fourth female character to have glowing red eyes when she gets angry. The other three being Jessie, May, and Dawn.
 * All of Iris' Pokémon have a type that is weak against -types, though it should be noted that Excadrill is also a -type, which counters that weakness.
 * Iris is the only human character to keep a Pokémon in her hair.
 * Coincidentally, Iris' non--type Pokémon (Excadrill and Emolga) were both seen stealing food from Patrat.
 * Iris is currently the only character out of Ash's traveling companions, to be the champion at some point in the main games.
 * Iris is the first female character not to appear in the next anime series after her departure.
 * The reasons might be that she may lower the rating of XY and/or her Japanese voice actress has gone to the cast of Yo Kai Watch.