I just discovered a nice promo video on the official site with little
statements from all the main seiyuu about the show and their characters, including Mamiko Noto, Takahashi Mikako, Koshimizu Ami, and Toyoguchi Megumi, as well as the seiyuu for Aaer and Neviril, and the seiyuu for Furoe, who appears to be quite young. They show little pics of the character when the seiyuu starts to speak, so you can tell who plays whom even if you can't understand what they're saying.
And the technician is definitely female. You can tell by upper body configuration....
Great point from vuori about the change in writers. This ep had a different feel from the first two, probably partly because of that change.
And whatever we decide on for Maaju and Ri Maajon, I think it has to preserve the connection between the two: Maaju is practice for Ri Maajon, and so the sounds of the words are connected. Maybe some further explanation will show up when the blog entires for episode 4 are posted on the official site.