In a moving intersection of tragedy and cultural passion, a new animated film imagines how Guy Gilboa-Dalal, a 22-year-old Israeli hostage held in Gaza, draws on his deep love of Japanese culture and anime to survive the psychological trauma of captivity.
Who is Guy Gilboa-Dalal?#
Guy Gilboa-Dalal is a young man from Ramat Gan and an avid fan of anime and Japanese culture who had been planning a trip to Japan before October 7, 2023. He had attended Harucon, one of Israel’s largest anime and manga conventions, in previous years, deeply embedded in the local Japanese-culture fan community.
On October 6, 2023, Guy went to the Nova desert rave with three friends for a long-planned outing. His love for Japanese culture was so central to his identity that his family and friends knew Japan represented a dream destination for him.
The Attack#
Early on the morning of October 7, Guy’s brother Gal joined him at the festival. They hugged, took a selfie, and Guy sent the picture to their mother—a moment of joy that would become haunting within hours.
When Hamas attacked around 6:30 a.m., the brothers tried to escape in separate cars, leaving only minutes apart. Both became stuck in the massive traffic jam at the festival exit under heavy gunfire, and were separated.
It took Gal about seven and a half hours of running and hiding in fields under fire to escape, with no contact from Guy. Within hours, the family found video evidence showing Guy and his best friend Evyatar David—friends since kindergarten—being taken hostage to Gaza, including footage of them tied up and lying in a tunnel.
The Film: “Guygu”#
The six-minute animated film titled “Guygu” (based on his family’s nickname for him) imagines how Guy’s love of Japanese culture helps him survive Hamas captivity.
Visual Style: Drawing on anime and dreamlike Japanese imagery, the trailer shows an animated Guy—recognizable from hostage posters—surrounded by cherry blossoms and wearing a short-sleeved kimono. The film blends these hopeful images with audio of his parents and siblings.
The Chest-Knock Motif: A central element features his mother’s voice telling him: “Guygu, if you feel that you’re in danger, give yourself a knock on the chest.” This is a real family habit—his mother often repeated it, fearing something terrible might happen. The family now imagines him knocking on his chest in the tunnels as a reminder that they are with him.
Fantasy and Reality: Director Jordan Barr explains that Guy’s story is “very black and white” in its moral clarity about terrorism and captivity. Yet the film uses anime-style escapism, letting Guy “imagine his captor is a samurai” and turn his situation into a Japanese-themed psychological escape.
The Filmmakers#
Jordan Barr, a videographer and anime fan, felt an immediate bond with Guy through their shared interest in Japanese animation. Already involved with another hostage family through media work after October 7, Barr learned about Guy’s particular love of Japan and conceived the idea for “Guygu.”
Chen Heifetz co-directed the film with Barr. The family became closely involved in the creative process, turning the project into both a personal tribute and a public act of remembrance and advocacy.
Harucon Premiere#
The trailer for “Guygu” was first screened at Harucon, the major annual anime and manga convention held at Jerusalem’s International Convention Center during Purim. This was a deliberate choice to present Guy’s story within the community that shares his passion.
For thousands of attendees at Israel’s largest anime convention, the screening turned Guy’s personal tragedy into a collective experience, connecting the hostage crisis to the cultural world they love.
Significance for the Asian Community in Israel#
Guy’s story and the film “Guygu” carry profound meaning for Asian cultural communities in Israel and beyond:
Cultural Visibility: The film affirms that Asian cultural identities and interests are visible and central, not marginal, in national tragedies and narratives. Guy’s love of Japanese culture isn’t a footnote—it’s the lens through which his family imagines his survival.
Shared Symbolic Language: Anime, samurai, cherry blossoms—these motifs create a bridge that can be understood across Israel and Asia, potentially fostering empathy and solidarity from Asian audiences who recognize their own cultural symbols in Guy’s imagined inner world.
Deep Cultural Integration: Guy’s case highlights that Asian popular culture, especially Japanese anime, is deeply woven into the lives of young Israelis, including those directly affected by the October 7 attacks. This isn’t superficial interest—it’s identity-forming passion.
Psychological Resilience: The film connects Japanese narratives of perseverance and honor with an Israeli hostage’s struggle for psychological survival, suggesting that cultural passion can be a source of strength in the darkest circumstances.
Community Connection: By screening at Harucon, the film acknowledges Israel’s thriving anime and manga community—many members feeling part of a broader Asian-culture diaspora inside Israel—and includes them in the national conversation about the hostages.
A Universal Story#
While rooted in Israeli tragedy, “Guygu” tells a universal story about how cultural passion and imagination can sustain us through unimaginable trauma. For Asian communities in Israel and worldwide, it demonstrates that the cultural connections they cherish—the anime they watch, the traditions they admire, the aesthetics they love—are not trivial escapes but profound sources of meaning and resilience.
Guy Gilboa-Dalal’s story reminds us that culture crosses borders, that a young Israeli’s love of Japan can become his family’s hope, and that the cherry blossoms of imagination might bloom even in the darkest tunnels.
