History Main / JapaneseSchoolClub

The three most commonly portrayed clubs are the student council, the school newspaper, and the Kendo team. For the student council, see AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil and StudentCouncilPresident. For the newspaper, see SchoolNewspaperNewshound. For the Kendo team, see KendoTeamCaptain. Other clubs range from normal sport clubs (baseball, soccer, swimming etc.) over cultural clubs (art, tea ceremony, music etc.) and a mixed bunch (library, computer, home economy etc.) to the more unusual (railways, astronomy, occult research etc.). And then there are the clubs no sane school or student council would accept in reality, be it more or less shadowy fan clubs for popular students or just "[[NondescriptClub the place where we hang out, when we are not doing something completely crazy]]."

* ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'' is about, of course, a literature club in a Japanese high school, which the player character joins out of obligation to his childhood friend Sayori (who teases him that he'll be a {{NEET}} if he doesn't try to socialize more). The club only consists of four people, who spent their meetings writing poetry and flirting with the protagonist, but they plan to recite poetry at the school festival to get more members, though not everybody in the club wants it to become larger. [[spoiler:The game never actually gets to the festival, however, due to club president Monika becoming aware that she's in a game and becoming a RealityWarper in order to keep the player interested in her above all other girls. It's implied that being the club president somehow gives the character awareness of the fourth wall.]]

%%* VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub takes place almost entirely within it's titular literature club.

* ''VisualClub/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'' is about, of course, a literature club in a Japanese high school, which the player character joins out of obligation to his childhood friend Sayori (who teases him that he'll be a {{NEET}} if he doesn't try to socialize more). The club only consists of four people, who spent their meetings writing poetry and flirting with the protagonist, but they plan to recite poetry at the school festival to get more members, though not everybody in the club wants it to become larger. [[spoiler:The game never actually gets to the festival, however, due to club president Monika becoming aware that she's in a game and becoming a RealityWarper in order to keep the player interested in her above all other girls. It's implied that being the club president somehow gives the character awareness of the fourth wall.]]

* ''Manga/{{Ebiten}}'' has the boy Noya Itsuki joining the girls' otaku club, mistaking it for the Astronomy Club due to a spelling mistake. Even when they put together pieces of a doujinshi instead of showing him star maps he don't realise it.

* In ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', some of the girls in Negi's class are members of the school's clubs: Asakura (Photography club), Makie (Gymnastics team), Akira (swimming team), Ako (CuteSportsClubManager for the soccer team), etc.
** The ones listed above are the ''sane'' clubs. Other clubs are the Library Exploration Club, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin dedicated to exploring and mapping the school's immense library]] (so immense that members need to be versed in ''climbing''. Oh, the library's also filled with lethal traps), and the Military Club, dedicated to studying all things military and shown in possession of a ''[[GunshipRescue Mil Mi-24 Hind assault helicopter]] and a [[CoolTank M1A1 Abrams MBT]]'' (both in blatant violation of Japanese law, if we may add).

* Miki's tennis team in ''Manga/MarmaladeBoy''. Ginta is a member of the boys's tennis club, and his cousin Tsutomu is also a member of his school's own. Naturally this seeps in their rivalry, and HilarityEnsues. Meanwhile, Meiko is a member of the literature club and Satoshi's classmate Furutachi is the leader of the broadcasting club.

* All members of the "Go Home Club" in ''Manga/KareKano'' are forcibly conscripted to participate in a play for the school culture festival.

%%** The same happens in every sports anime/manga: ''Manga/SlamDunk'', ''Manga/KurokoNoBasuke'', ''Manga/DearBrother'', (basketball) ''Manga/{{Touch}}'', ''Manga/CrossGame'' (baseball), ''Manga/AttackNumberOne'', ''Manga/AttackerYou'', Manga/{{Haikyuu}}, (volleyball), ''Manga/TheCherryProject'' (skating), ''Manga/CaptainTsubasa'' and ''Manga/InazumaEleven'' (soccer) clubs at school have similar dynamics.

* The Yamayurikai in ''LightNovel/MariaSamaGaMiteru'' probably falls under the {{Absurdly Powerful Student Council}}, but it's notable that several characters do double duty with other clubs. Rei is the {{Kendo Team Captain}} and Yoshino joins the kendo club in her second year. Touko is also a member of the Drama Club and while not formally a member of the Yamayurikai at the time, her agreeing to help them with their play at the SchoolFestival is a source of some conflict. The Photography Club also gets some coverage courtesy of Yumi's friend Tsutako.

* The Literature Club in ''VisualNovel/{{Crescendo}}'', with [[GenkiGirl Kaho]] as the club president. [[IllGirl Miyu]], however, is a member of the school orchestra instead.

%%** The same happens in every sports anime/manga: ''Manga/SlamDunk'', ''Manga/KurokoNoBasuke'', ''Manga/OniisamaE'', (basketball) ''Manga/{{Touch}}'', ''Manga/CrossGame'' (baseball), ''Manga/AttackNumberOne'', ''Manga/AttackerYou'', Manga/{{Haikyuu}}, (volleyball), ''Manga/TheCherryProject'' (skating), ''Manga/CaptainTsubasa'' and ''Manga/InazumaEleven'' (soccer) clubs at school have similar dynamics.

* ''LightNovel/BeyondTheBoundary'' has the Literature Club, which all four of the main characters are a member of. [[spoiler: The club itself was actually formed in order to keep an eye on Akihito, who is a half-human, half-youmu who becomes incredibly dangerous when he goes berserk. The club advisor and vice president actually pitch in to contain him when ge goes out of control in the fourth episode.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', SEES is technically a school club with Chairman Ikutsuki as its advisor, but the fact never proves to have any particular significance and several SEES members are members of official school clubs as well: Yukari is in the archery club, Akihiko is captain of the boxing team, and Mitsuru is Student Council President. The player character can join a number of official and unofficial clubs, including Student Council; these inevitably provide Social Links with the classmates involved.

* Cherryton Academy in ''{{Manga/Beastars}}'' has a number of these. There's the drama club where several main characters (Louis, Legosi, Juno) are all part of, where Louis is the President, the Newspaper Club, and the Gardening Club, though in the latter's case it's just Haru taking care of all of their plants.

* Cherryton Academy in ''Manga/Beastars'' has a number of these. There's the drama club where several main characters (Louis, Legosi, Juno) are all part of, where Louis is the President, the Newspaper Club, and the Gardening Club, though in the latter's case it's just Haru taking care of all of their plants.

* ''Manga/AsteroidInLove'' is about the combined Earth Science and Astronomy clubs, which merged due to neither having enough members on their own. Part of the comedy comes from both clubs having to reconcile their entirely different goals and agendas.

* On a meta level, there are dozens of anime every year about various school clubs from typical to absurd. An exhaustive list is probably impossible.

** Similarly, in ''Manga/OniisamaE'' some of the Seiran High School girls are in clubs whether they go or not to the Sorority. Kaoru is the star of the baskeball team, Tomoko is a member of the cooking club, and Fukiko says she is not just the StudentCouncilPresident but also a part of both the flower arrangement ''and'' the horse riding clubs. (And we do see her in activities related to them.) Rei isn't officially in any group but she's seen helping the girls from the Drama Club in the anime [[spoiler: and used to be in the basketball team]], and Nanako ''wanted'' to join the cooking club but being pulled in the Sorority ruined these plans.

** [[CloudCuckoolander Rin's]] a member of the Art Club, and Hisao joins in her route. To gain access to said route, Hisao must tell the art club advisor [[LargeHam Nomiya]] that he intends to become a member when Nomiya shows up near the end of the First Act. (If you choose the other answer, you get the Bad Ending, since getting there involves avoiding all the other choices that would flag you for another girl's route, and the other choices that seend you on a one-way path to the Bad Ending.)

** In ''Anime/SmilePrettyCure'', all five heroines are in different clubs. Miyuki is in the cheerleading team, Akane is in the volleyball club, Yayoi is in the art club, Nao is in the soccer club, and Reika is in the kyuudo club ''and'' is in the student council.

* In any DatingSim located in a school, more than one possible love interest will be a member of a club. To have a bigger chance to get the girl/boy you're interested in, the player can try either joining the club they belong to or dropping by when they're reunited, to meet up with them more frequently.

* The same is true in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', in which the Strength Social Link is held either by Kou (captain of the basketball club) or Daisuke (captain of the soccer club); meanwhile, CuteSportsClubManager [[LovableAlphaBitch Ai]] is the Moon Social Link, and the Sun social link can either be Yumi (drama club) or Ayane (Music club).

This is the lowest-ranking {{Authority Trope|s}}. For the next step up, see AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil and {{Landlord}}.

* ''LightNovel/KawaikerebaHentaiDemoSukiNiNatteKuremasuka'': Sayuki is the president of the Calligraphy Club, and Keiki joined more to keep the club afloat than out of interest in calligraphy. Yuika, Mao, and Mizuha join as well when they realize that Sayuki has an advantage in spending time with Kiryu due to being in the same club. The other members tend to use the club as a means to engage in their fetishes, though when their club is being inspected, they do perform some proper calligraphy by drawing characters related to their fetishes.

* ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDxD''. The devil Rias is the president of the Occult Research Club which is used as a base for her servants.

* Most of the cast in ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' are shown to members of various clubs or sports teams, and budget meetings are incredibly stressful for [[StudentCouncilPresident Shirogane]] since most of the club presidents are children of ''very'' influential people (one of them is a YakuzaPrincess and another is actual royalty).

* ''[[VisualNovel/AmnesiaMemories Amnesia Later]]'' reveals that Ukyo was in quite a lot of school clubs because of his frequent moving and entering new schools, as well as an inability to say no. The list is pretty long and it seems like he's done pretty much every club Japanese schools had to offer -- from the cooking and debate club to various sports clubs and drama. He also admits that [[DudeLooksLikeALady his stature and long hair got him mistaken for a girl]], so he often got recruited for the ''girls''' sports club, like lacrosse.

* ''LightNovel/KawaikerebaHentaiDemoSukiNiNatteKuremasuka'': Sayuki is the president of the Calligraphy Club, and Keiki joined more to keep the club afloat than out of interest in calligraphy. Yuika, Mao, and Mizuha join as well when they realize that Sayuki has an advantage in spending time with Kiryu due to being in the same club. Unfortunately, the other members tend to use the club as a means to engage in their fetishes.

* ''{{Manga/Saki}}'' has the mahjong clubs competing in the tournament. They range from large clubs with stiff competition for spots on the regular team to small groups of friends who make it surprisingly far in the tournament.