http://stilleatingoranges.tumblr.com/post/25153960313/the-significance-of-plot-without-conflict

What do we think, VE-ers?  Could we tell a Star Wars story using kish?tenketsu?

The way I see it, conflict is always there whenever there are people. Even in our daily lives, whether pronounced or not, it is still there. Even a story with two people sitting in a blank room is going to involve conflict even if it's a whisp of a thing and unpronounced. Even that article is misunderstanding conflict and the importance it plays in things as simple as human interaction. This seems to be more a story that doesn't focus on the conflict. I've seen this done in anime once or twice and it really comes off as more the contrast between different conflicts. A story without conflict is just a notation of details. In a lot of ways what they're suggesting is closer to what we refer to as flash fiction. It's just a moment out of time. Generally we, as I s'pose you'd call us 'west', use conflict not just to drive the plot but to involve the readers. Conflict, as a part of our nature, is something that everybody can identify with and therefor makes it much easier for a reader to get involved.

That being said, it is possible to write a story without conflict, but it requires a certain amount of shared knowledge between reader and writer and makes use of symbolism and metaphors in truly stunning measures.

That being said, I am rather drunk and the moment and that's probably enough of my rambling.

Snipes, if only everyone could be that genius when drunk. Then the only problems this world would suffer would be hangovers and sobriety.

I have that knee-jerk, "you have to have challenges!" reaction to your comment, Raz.  But then I think back to those four panels in the article, where the girl gives a boy a soda, and I think, "what exactly was the challenge, there, and even if one exists, was it central to that plot?"  I'm inclined to think of conflict as fundamental for plot, and the article challenged that assumption.  That's why I shared.