Dawn-Sunlight

iris and Cilan were effectively poor-man's renditions of Misty and Brock whom the writers mistakenly married to irritating running gags (Iris's repetitious reactions to Ash being "such a kid", which reached a saturation point ten episodes into the Best Wishes run, and Cilan inexplicably qualifying as the connoisseur of numerous mundane items despite the show never pushing the gag far enough to hit a comedic sweet spot (they should've simply rolled with him declaring himself the connoisseur of dryer lint or mud, which would have subjectively been more successfully amusing)) to the effect of costing them more well-rounded individual characters. Of course, there are definitely other aspects of BW deserving of disdain personally (Ash being reset to an incompetent novice, the overload of underdeveloped 'mons, Meowth briefly travelling with the protagonist and introducing a unique and interesting group chemistry only to drop the conceit a mere four episodes later, Ash, a trainer of technically extensive experience/achievement, being defeated by a moronic plot utility in the regional league, Team Plasma being watered down, the Team Rocket trio being surgically stripped of their individual personalities in 'compensation' for their initial increased competence, Charizard serving minimal purpose other than shallow fanservice and the wasteful Decolora arc) but I fully understand your opinion.