I think that the most important and engaging components of conflict are "mystery" and "anticipation". Playing those out with a deliberate antagonist just happe

I think that the most important and engaging components of conflict are "mystery" and "anticipation". Playing those out with a deliberate antagonist just happens to be an easy go-to way of encapsulating that, playing with the mystery of what he's got up his sleeve and anticipating when they finally clash. But these components of conflict do not require an antagonist "character" per se. The conflict can be survival, overcoming disease, making that next promotion, getting the girl/guy, not knowing what happened to bring the world to the condition it's in, etc. Or they can be applied in simple charm or humor, but those still need a setup and payoff of some sort. The "setup" here still sets up a conflict of some type, just not necessarily of the antagonistic flavor. So I would disagree that there's no "conflict", but rather there is a lack of a specific antagonist character.