Anime Expo announced that they will host Tsunku, Daisuke Ishiwatari, and Toshimichi Mori at this year's event.

Tsunku will attend the event with Morning Musume, who are performing as Musical Guests of Honor. Tsunku will serve as a guest judge for Anime Expo's seventh annual AX Idol Singing contest. Tsunku assembled Morning Musume from finalists of a series of televised auditions for his band, Sharan Q. In addition ot his managerial work, Tsunku performed several pieces with Sharan Q that later became anime themes, such as Ai Just on my Love, which was used for Orphen, and Single Bed, which was used in DNA². Tsunku also composed music for several anime titles, including School Rumble: 2nd Semester, and Kirarin Revolution.

Daisuke Ishiwatari and Toshimichi Mori are best known for their work on the Guilty Gear series of fighting games. Daisuke Ishiwatari co-created the franchise, and composed the music for the franchise. Mori held minor roles with the arcade editions of Guilty Gear, and primarily worked on porting the titles to consoles. Mori and Ishiwatari are currently collaborating on BlazBlue, a fighting game in the vein of Guilty Gear that will be available on the XBox 360 and PlayStation 3, in addition to the arcades.