This is actually almost exactly my email flow. Multiple inboxes with filters so email gets assigned and put in its place quickly. Instead of stars I use labels

This is actually almost exactly my email flow. Multiple inboxes with filters so email gets assigned and put in its place quickly. Instead of stars I use labels though. Anything in my inbox I need to handle right away or mark as todo. Very efficient and keeps the inbox at less than 10 emails most of the time. Combined with Gmail shortcuts, you can handle emails very quickly in Gmail. These features combined are the main reason why I never give more than a cursory glance at all these slick new email apps since this workflow is so quick and easy for me.