You know, I heard other people say it was a super-feminist anime and I was like, 'I dunno, that's pretty high praise...' but you know, it's actually arguable.

Besides the stuff that you mention, you have the entire Rue arc. First of all, any other anime, she and Ahiru would not have been friends (she even told Ahiru she loved her!) and she would not have been painted as such a sympathetic character.

Also, I love what it ended up saying about how you don't have to be pure to love and have you love returned.