The animation was bad. I've worked my way into a couple of seasons but just lost interest at one point. Been meaning to get back to it, but other things preoccupy me.
Star Wars Rebels is what originally drew me in and the animation there is much better.
That said, all of this is canon. So, watching helps fill in gaps. The single (to me) redeeming quality of the Clone Wars series is Ahsoka Tano. By the time I saw her in Rebels she was much more mature and I could really appreciate her character. Seriously…watch her disarm two Inquisitors with ease AND square off against Vader himself.
But her journey is all throughout the Clone Wars series.
There is one episode of the Clone Wars though that helps to explain where SW seems to be going now. I forget what season, but Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka visit a planet where the Father, Daughter and the Son come into play. These are representative of the dark, the light and the balance in the Force.
Ahsoka is alive because of the daughter. Without that she wouldn't have been in Rebels and certainly not in the Mandalorian. She also wouldn't be alive without Ezra (in Rebels) as well.
