I watched the first 3 episodes first and then caught up with the manga after. I didn't mind the filler ep. I felt it was a fun, weird story that gave us some nice yuri moments. Seeing the differences between eps 1 and 2, I enjoy both for different reasons. I like how the anime is going the more mystery route. They don't explain much and it gives it this choppy uneasy feeling that keeps you watching because you want to find more answers. I like that the manga fleshes things out more so you know more about the world. I think the manga also follows a more standard plot pacing.
I was really disappointed with ep 4 though. I don't like that they skipped Kisaragi Station because I think that the character development that happens for Sorawo there, makes a lot more sense for how Sorawo acts in Space Time Man. Like her confidence when she's the leader for the first time. I also thought it was ridiculous that they shoved 10 chapters into 1 episode. They took away a lot of what I enjoyed in that arc. Discovering the photographs was some of the creepiest shit that happened in the manga and I was really sad to see it just flash by in 3 seconds. I also wished they did the initial argument better. Their fight in the anime didn't really capture why it would make Toriko disappear on her own.
I'm gonna guess they'll do kisaragi station in one go, back to back. I'm interested to see how it'll go, because I do think that by having the time skip like they did in the manga really added to the impact of the rescue later on. Also I think Sorawo did a ton of character building in Space Time Man arc, which they didn't capture too well in the anime. I guess we'll just see.
Sigh the problems that come after seeing another source that let's you compare changes. Maybe I should've put off reading the manga until after the anime finished haha. At the pace it's going though, I think it'll pass by the manga soon though.