The court's first ruling was to order the accused to undergo psychological evaluation, a process now underway. Media commentary on the incident can be roughly divided into four categories. The first consists of analyses published before the arrest, in which people in various fields attempted to construct a profile of the killer from the written message left on the person of the murdered boy and an anonymous letter sent to a local newspaper. The discussion featured in this section, between mystery novelist Takamura Kaoru and psychiatrist and social commentator Noda Masaaki, technically falls into this category, since neither Takamura nor Noda had any inkling that the killer would turn out to be a junior high school student. Nonetheless, their wide-ranging discussion paints what appears to be a remarkably accurate picture of a killer driven only by a desire to play with human life.
Reports suggest that there was nothing unusual about the suspect's household.
It has been described as a warm family with a cheerful mother and a father who spent a good deal of time with his three sons, of whom the accused was the eldest. It has been said that the youth was profoundly affected by his grandmother's death and became obsessed with death in general, but this hardly seems an adequate explanation for such a horrifying crime. Since the incident, counseling offices and hotlines have been flooded with calls from parents seeking reassurance about their own children. Their concern bespeaks the anxiety of mothers and fathers utterly bewildered by the behavior and thinking of their offspring. It may also reflect a sense of insecurity and shame over their failure to provide any real moral or ethical education in the home.