Is one of those nitpicks that Hakuoro's entire harem, including Yuzuha, end up along for the ride?

Since you're up to episode 23, I'm curious if you noticed how Karula essentially makes the same contract Eruruu did - I only noticed that while reviewing the episode recently. Karula kind of turns the contract on its head though.

(BTW, Karula is played by the same seiyuu as Amida - the woman with the scar who is always with Naze in Gundam IBO. Rewatching some of the scenes of Karula and Eruruu actually kind of reminds me of the scene with Amida and Atra because of that.)

(Also, I have to comment: the way Eruruu's retreat back down the stairs in that scene is framed such that you only get a momentary glimpse of her facial expression is a nice touch. There's a number of little things like that in U1 that make the scenes they appear in so much better - Touka snapping "I AM HIS BODYGUARD" at the merchant when he inquires if her and Karula are Hakuoro's new concubines is another favourite.)

Did he have much opportunity to talk to her in that period? I recall the situation changing rather quickly.

(Also, you mentioned Utawarerumono feeling a bit similar to Escaflowne, I watched Escaflowne shortly after U1 back in the day and recall there was a mecha pilot in that who looked and sounded much like Kuuya's warmongering underling, to the point where I wonder if U1 intentionally based it's design off him.)

I actually would have liked this approach because it would make Kuuya seem more consistent, her transformation to a hardline warmonger felt rather sudden.

I've heard Karula is basically game breakingly powerful in most of the battles in the original game if you level her enough. The retreat from the onslaught of Kuuya's war machines is supposedly still very difficult though.

You got all six but it's interesting that you had the same assessment I did: going off the anime, only those three feel all that credible.

The game was willing to do some things the anime wasn't (Yuzuha having a child with Hakuoro - this being cut from the anime actually creates continuity problems since I'm 99% sure that child is Kuon), but even there Aruru is just his daughter. Besides, she's like what, 10 or 12? The archer twins are traps in the game (or at least tell Hakuoro they're guys, he doesn't verify).

The next couple episodes are going to ham things up just a bit…
Who would you consider part of that harem? There is a canonical answer to that, but as the anime scales things back from the game...

Personally, I think Niwe's point is kind of invalidated by the fact he instigated a lot of that war. He won't be the last to make such an argument though.

It'll be interesting to see how your opinion of this evolves over time. You're just barely starting to get an idea of who Hakuoro is.

I'm curious if you felt that episodes 15 and 16 of U1 and U2 kind of parallel each other in terms of plot beats. U1 worked better for me though - it felt like Hakuoro deserved the break after all that war, whereas in U2 it feels like someone should be doing something about Varai.

I do see the parallel, though I think Eruruu is a little more willing to raise her concerns with Hakuoro than Kotori is with Honoka. It's only on the big military stuff where she places complete faith in his judgement (which, given their situation, is admittedly showing him a massive amount of deference).

One of the reasons I like the "what an adorable attendant you have" scene is that it actually sums up their relationship pretty well - he's oblivious, she's resigned to it.

As for the original game, as far as I am aware it has a single route which is basically a harem route of sorts. The anime cuts or significantly modifies pretty much all of that, although I suspect Eruruu is kind of the "main girl" in the game as well and Hakuoro's obliviousness to Eruruu's romantic feelings for him has a basis in the game.

There's a couple things I could add here, but I think it's best you finish the show before we discuss them.