The film lacks explicit engagement with queer identities or non-cisnormative gender roles. The narrative focuses on a rescue mission and underwater exploration within traditional mid-90s animation bounds.

Arale Norimaki serves as a high-agency female protagonist with physics-defying strength. She drives the plot through action, disrupting the trope of female characters as passive recipients of adventure.

The cast operates within a specific Japanese cultural framework. While the underwater city introduces non-human species, the film lacks a diverse, multi-ethnic human cast or deconstruction of racial hierarchies.

The story emphasizes whimsical escapism and lighthearted morality. It features cultural exchange between the Norimaki family and shark civilization but avoids critiques of systemic power or religious institutions.

There are no identifiable characters portrayed with visible or invisible disabilities. The narrative does not utilize disability as a plot device or a source of mockery.