On the example animation not all paths are taken, so that is one bit of extra information that the animation does provide. Though even if it was fully identical

On the example animation not all paths are taken, so that is one bit of extra information that the animation does provide. Though even if it was fully identical, I do find it considerably easier to see where the data is moving based on dots tracing out a path than I do by scanning for small arrows in a massive diagram, hence my confusion on this. Fair point though.