@Fire Fist:
Don't get me wrong, One Piece is my favorite manga/anime. But Zoro is not my type of character. He's strong, he can kick your ass, and he's "manly". I can respect that type of character, but I prefer the intellectual types, like Robin, Franky, Nami, and Chopper (when he's fighting, he uses a lot of strategy). Robin is my favorite personality type, but I do enjoy Franky's antics. I'm just not one for Zoro's personality type, I suppose, and that makes him uninteresting when compared to the others.
I understand that you think the more forwardly intellectual types are compelling compared to the other characters, which of course is your opinion and completely valid, but to call Zoro banal and uninteresting is just not true. I mean Zoro isn't my favorite character in the series, but he is clearly not banal. He is far more comical than any other "strong but silent type," he has plenty of flaws that are pointed out time and time again, and where many manga wouldn't make fun of a character like Zoro, One Piece does and does it well. Also intellectual isn't the same as studious because clearly Zoro is a pretty smart character in the way he has developed his sword techniques, has a strong sense of honor, which is a pretty philosophical concept that one has to ponder in order to understand it at the level Zoro does, and even the fact that he is usually the one who is the most skeptical of the new crew mates, which it turns out he should be in many respects.
If I miss understand your use of the word banal, which means trite and over done, and is not a synonym for uninteresting, then please tell me what you actually mean…