The 1989 "Otaku Murderer" case gave a negative connotation to the fandom from which it has not fully recovered. The usage of "(interest) ", however, is used for teasing or self-deprecation, but the unqualified term remains negative. The identification of turned negative in late 2004 when Kaoru Kobayashi kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and murdered a seven-year-old first-grade student. Japanese journalist Akihiro Ōtani suspected that Kobayashi's crime was committed by a member of the figure moe zoku even before his arrest. Although Kobayashi was not an , the degree of social hostility against increased. were seen by law enforcement as possible suspects for sex crimes, and local governments called for stricter laws controlling the depiction of eroticism in materials.