The portrayal of the Land of Iron differs more subtly than people usually acknowledge. In the manga, it's presented with stark, minimalist lines by Kishimoto. The heavy snow and sharp rock formations feel almost architectural, emphasizing its isolation and the harsh, principled nature of the samurai who live there. The anime, on the other hand, fills in a lot of atmospheric detail—the constant fall of snow has more texture, the muted greys and blues of the landscape feel colder and more desolate. The sound design there, like the crunch of boots on snow and the howling wind during the Kage Summit, adds a layer of tension the silent panels can't replicate.
Honestly, I prefer the manga's take for that summit arc. The stillness of the panels makes the verbal confrontations feel more claustrophobic and tense, like the characters are trapped in this icy arena. The anime sometimes overplays the drama with swelling music when quiet dread worked better. The samurai armor designs are pretty consistent between both, though the anime gives their movements a heavier, more deliberate weight during the Mifune fight, which I thought was a good call.
Ending thought: the anime's version feels more like a place you could actually visit, but the manga's version feels more like the idea of the place—which, for a story about ideologies clashing, might be the point.