Perceive family ties
*DGS SPOILERS AHEAD*
If you follow my personal, then you might know that Trucy and Apollo are my favorite characters in the entire franchise. I am absolutely devoted to them, their unbreakable bond, and their weird magic powers. So of course when I saw Iris mention her own ability to perceive lies in dgs1, I immediately became obsessed with the possibility that they might be related. (This is actually the only ancestor hypothesis I'm interested in, for reasons I can explain elsewhere if anyone cares to know.)
Though it's not confirmed, it makes sense to me that Iris would drag Sherlock to Japan and start a life of her own there. What surprises me is that despite all the ancestor discourse, I've only seen this possibility mentioned in one other place—the "Talk" section of Trucy Wright's wiki page. Did people not notice it? Was it too obvious to even discuss? Do they not really care about Iris that much? Do they not want Minuki and Housuke to have a British ancestor? No idea, but I wanted to dive into my own theory here and provide some translations of the original scenes for context.
To get things started, here's the scene where Zak/Shadi/Kagerou/Zakku explains the Gramarye/Arumajiki family power to Phoenix for the first time. (Translations below are my own; read left to right.)
Now here's Iris explaining to Susato how she was able to make Sherlock spill the beans about not being her real father:
In both instances, the intransitive verb "見える" (mieru) is used. Now, this is a pretty standard, commonly used verb meaning something like "to appear" or "to be visible." In many instances throughout the AA games, it's simply translated as transitive "to see." (You'll notice in the original conversation with Zak that the verb is not shown in orange.) When the word comes up in the context of the special Gramarye power, however, this verb is usually officially localized as "perceive" (and often shown in orange, later on). I like this strategy—it gives Trucy, Apollo, and Iris's special ability a nomenclature-y edge. I think the fact that 見える is made orange in Iris and Susato's conversation is a pretty clear indication from the game that we're supposed to pick up on the connection (just like with Karuma).
The connection between Iris and the Arumajiki family is emphasized when Iris explains that her ability enables her to pick up on lies specifically. The conversation between Zak and Naruhodou about Yumi, Housuke, Minuki, and the bracelets is rather long, so I tried to cut out just the most relevant part—where the verb 見える is used. That means that this post leaves out the more detailed explanation of the lie-detection angle of the family's bracelets, but if you know, you know.
Iris seems to attribute her special ability to Holmes' influence, but the key of the gs4 scene is that it's explicitly stated that the "perceive" power is genetic. Given that Arumajiki Tensai (Magnifi) was born in 1951/2, and Iris was born in 1890, it's not at all unthinkable that she could be his grandmother (or even great-grandmother, depending).
Notes and sources:
If you have a question about or criticism of any of my translations, please let me know!
dgs1 screenshots | gs4 screenshots