Iyashikei is a Japanese genre that, according to Japanese studies scholar Paul Roquet, tells stories that are designed to comfort and heal weary readers by creating an aesthetic of calm. In order to achieve this, as Roquet articulates, these stories are presented as tales with little or no plot conflict.
That simple idea is, however, somewhat antithetical to longstanding western storytelling traditions, where conflict has been considered key to plot development.
Screenwriting guru Robert McKee simply states that “nothing moves forward in a story except through conflict.”
