User blog comment:Samium/Nico Robin, human in a world of characters (Essay)/@comment-24850639-20170106195852

You made a few nice points, but overall you've got Robin all wrong man.

'' "Alas, it feels so annoying and miscalculated that when we get to Enies Lobby, Oda chooses to reduce her to a generic damsel in distress, in the hands of a one dimentional pychopath." ''

 Robin was ANYTHING but a generic damsel in distress during the Water 7 saga. What damsel has to be CONVINCED to let people save her? Robin made her own decision to sacrifice herself to keep her friends safe, just like Sanji did. Sanji isn't considered that, so why should she be? They were completely comfortable putting themselves in the fire if it meant that the people they cared about would be safe. After she got those cuffs off she there fighting alongside the rest of the crew in a heartbeat.

'' "If the story elects to make her a victum of someone so irrideamible she deserves a reassuming 'night in shining armor',  Luffy is not it.  She is an adult, and he's a kid. He doesn't have a clue where she is coming from, and unlike with Nami, or Usopp or the others, we never see a bond between the two of them that actually illuminates their friendship, and makes the rescue feel meaningful." ''

 Where are you even getting this from? Luffy is the man that convinced her that her life was even still worth living in the first place. Allowing her to be a part of his crew, he LITERALLY gave her life purpose that she had completely given up on. How does he convince her that she should come back? By yet again literally giving her the choice to say the words "I want to live!" She had a choice to continue her path of destruction, but because of how much she believed in Luffy, she decided to trust that they'd get her out of there. It's one thing to beat up a guy that wrongfully imprisoned someone (Zoro), beat up a guy that killed your Mom and extorts your village (Nami), beat up a guy threatening to kill your best friends (Usopp), beat up a guy threatening your mentor and dream (Sanji), but to convince someone that their life is worth living PERIOD? That's friendship at its best.

'' "If you think about it, she is the most 'normal' of them all. The other 8 have some quirk or comedic weakness that contributes to their personality, but not Robin. she has no faults. She is virtuous, intelligent, and solomn." ''

 What's wrong with that exactly? You pointed out yourself that her story is one of the most grippingly sad of the Straw Hats, is it really all that weird then that she's the least quirky and comical? I do still see where you're coming from, but you gotta admit that Oda has definitely been working on making her more comical (Franky in Chopper's body on PH, calling Usopp on his cowardice in Green Bit). She's opening up more and more to the Straw Hats as things have moved along. You can't go from the most depressing character to jokester all of a sudden, you have to slowly open up a character like that to being more comedic.

'' "Why people seem to think it works or are willing to accept how the story can be so condecending of what may be its strongest most realistic character. In what universe could we accept Robin as the most inferior being?" ''

 I think it's been made quite clear that Robin's main significance to the story is going to be through INFORMATION she provides. Both as we follow her own story, and also as she continues to help the crew find out more about the world. There has NEVER been a focus on Robin's combat ability, its always been like a secondary aspect of who she is. With that said though, I think it's also been made quite clear that Robin isn't really scared of too many people or things. Aokiji and Kuma are probably the only characters we've seen give her pause this entire series, and for very good reason. I can agree that maybe Oda underserves that aspect of her character, but her only fighting when she absolutely needs to is no different than Nami. People just expect more of Robin because she's stronger. But in NO WAY does that make her an inferior character by any means. Robin's importance to the overall series of One Piece far outclasses that of someone like say, Usopp, or Brook, just on virtue of historical acumen alone.