In my minimum to max thoughts and telling storys in the boil down version I'm playing with anim as a tool more than for the sake of it.

Here's the bares:
>ground tells you where they are in space
>clouds tell you the time of day more or less, and as a benefit add to the environment (free detail)
>pose tells you one character has the object and the other is ready to get it
>animation as reveal, the drag of the panels themself work as the throwing motion, where as animating Gnocchi would take more frames and pose rework.
>motion lines in the bg and the ghost of the hand/object further reinforce the throw, add interest, and act as a composition device to link all three panels together.

minimum to maximum. If I get this down I'll be able to make bigger things without taking months to doso, and detail animate where it actually matters, or is the most pretty.