I really wouldn't call Yuuko "morally bankrupt", she's more of a pragmatist and
But I digress. Anyway, yeah, MLA's a great story, and reading Muv-Luv beforehand really does make the reveal all the more shocking. Incidentally, I just found a VN reader who, through some miracle, doesn't know anything about the plot of MLU and MLA, so I'm getting them to read it and see what their reaction is when they transition from MLE to the main plot.