>>51457714When I read this thread I see none of you actually watched the show.
Iris never showed any Champion ambitions unlike AJ, Giselle, Casey, Alain, Ritchie, Paul, etc. And that was in Gen5!!! Alain was battling legit legendaries, Tobias was using actual legendaries, Ash and others were going through GymBadge quest hells in multiple regions to gain the EXP. Giselle at least went to a trainer school.
Iris being Champion is only cause she's one in the games, the anime did an arceusawful job at portraying her progression, it feels unearned as heck if you watch the show.
Realistically, Ash should have already lost with 3-6 at best but the writers really don't give a fuck about the established powerlevel balance anymore. You can see how OLM is tired of drawing this crap by this point.
