Well, despite the fact I have rarely been positively surprised by fillers (especially during this last year long stretch of them), I'm still not dispirited enough to say all fillers are all bad just because they are fillers. I don't know if I'm fortunate or just gullible, but I do enjoy trying to see the potential even if the execution failed. Even if that oft just leads to greater disappointments.

What I said about the general problems of Star village applies also to Akahoshi; he's actually closer to real life villains than regular super villains. It's obvious he's only in power because there aren't any really gifted people in the whole village, or if there are, they are afraid to act. After all, even the previous hoshikage was so easily defeated. In Akahoshi we see the petty and despicable behavior that reflects great ambition without wits or ethics to really guide it.

More often than not in stories people like Akahoshi are actually pawns of greater evils. Interestingly enough that lacking element is a strength of this arc: There seemingly is no greater evil behind the lowly Akahoshi, and that has shaped the story as it is, giving it a tiny bit of difference compared to the norm.