History Main / SchoolClubsAreSeriousBusiness

* Performance clubs are artists and celebrities.

* The AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil is government, the [[SchoolCouncilPresident President]] being, well, a President.

* The AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil is government.

* In ''CodeGeass'', AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil President Milly is able to get every club on campus looking for Arthur by promising them increased funding, in addition to the kiss with a council member. At the end of the episode, Lelouch asks Milly to let the Japanese Suzaku join the student council by mentioning that students must be part of a club.

* Math clubs, science clubs, or [[SmartPeoplePlayChess chess clubs]] are the "brain bank".

* Math clubs or [[SmartPeoplePlayChess Chess clubs]] are the "brain bank".

* School clubs give gameplay benefits in ''{{Disgaea 3}}''.

* In ''Series/BuffytheVampireSlayer'', Buffy tries and fails to join the cheerleaders. Someone else is so intent on joining the team that she's trying to kill people to get on, and so does Dawn, though there was a different spell in there.

* The titular club in ''Series/{{Glee}}'' is VERY unpopular, and anybody in it are social outcasts, a plot point in the series. They also occasionally start spontaneously singing in hallways, drawing the school's attention. By contrast, the glee club at the boys' school Kurt transfers to are revered celebrities.

** In one episode the boys' school news broadcast gets into a ratings war with Clyde's LowestCommonDenominator "dogs in hats" clip show.
** In another, Eric hijacks his morning announcements slot to run a smear campaign against school council chairman Wendy and get himself elected in her place, [[spoiler:only to find out it isn't anything like the AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil he thought it was.]]

* ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'': Tankery --''[[MyLittlePanzer tank battles]]''-- is a real club, and there is even a national as well as international league for it! [[spoiler:It's also serious in the more mundane sense: [[SaveTheOrphanage win the tournament to prevent the school from being closed down]].]] Other clubs include ''ninjutsu'' and magic.

Students get involved with extracurricular activities for all sorts of reasons. They let you network with other people who share your hobbies, they let you use school resources for fun, and they look great on a college transcript. While there are some exceptions, like performance clubs with recitals and organized sports, most clubs are just afterschool activities pursued casually by their members.

[[AC:AnimeAndManga]]
* In ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya''. Haruhi was just another high school girl who wanted to meet aliens, time travelers, sliders and espers... AND ACTUALLY MEETS THEM.
** The computer club aren't as bad but being next door to Haruhi seems to have rubbed off on them judging by episode 12 (chronological order).

[[AC:LiveActionTelevision]]
* The titular club in ''Series/{{Glee}}'' is VERY unpopular, and anybody in it are social outcasts, a plot point in the series. They also occasionally start spontaneously singing in hallways, drawing the school's attention. By contrast, the glee club at the boys' school Kurt transfers to are revered celebrities.

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* Pops up occasionally in later seasons of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' (although as a rule, it's [[AdultsAreUseless more often the adults who get carried away]] by SeriousBusiness).

[[AC:RealLife]]

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* In one ''BlueBloods'' a sinister college club develops the ceremony of ritually "hunting" female students as if they were trophies. One member actually volunteers to rape his girlfriend on the grounds that he would be more "humane" then the other boys. It never seems to have occurred to him to warn his girlfriend or go to the cops until the cops actually caught him. His school club was just too important.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' had an episode where the students joined school clubs. Mandy joined the Secret Snake Club, who believes in a snake that will eat all of the cool kids. Billy joined the Secret Service club, and discovers the knitting club is being used for criminal intent.

* Parodied in ''Manga/KeroroGunso''. Fuyuki starts the paranormal club, but only has one other member in it (and she only joined because she had a crush on Fuyuki). The school newspaper also discovers the aliens' existence, but nobody believes them because they're a school newspaper (and because Fuyuki managed to confiscate their evidence).

Related to AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil. Subtrope of SeriousBusiness.

* The titular club in ''Series/{{Glee}}'' is VERY unpopular, and anybody in it are social outcasts, a plot point in the series. They also occasionally start spontaneously singing in hallways, drawing the school's attention.

Note that these tropes can be different types of "serious business". It can be very exaggerated, like clubs determining all of your relationships in high school, or completely bogus, like harboring a plan to stop an apocalyptic prophecy. The trope may split if there are lots of examples.

* In ''HaruhiSuzumiya''. Haruhi was just another high school girl who wanted to meet aliens, time travelers, sliders and espers... AND ACTUALLY MEETS THEM.
* Parodied in ''KeroroGunso''. Fuyuki starts the paranormal club, but only has one other member in it (and she only joined because she had a crush on Fuyuki). The school newspaper also discovers the aliens' existence, but nobody believes them because they're a school newspaper (and because Fuyuki managed to confiscate their evidence).
* In ''RosarioToVampire'', the protagonists are all members of the newspaper club (Tsukune origionally decided on joining the swim team instead, but that left Outer Moka heartbroken because, well, [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires and water...)]], which spends much of its time investigating other clubs. The newspaper club has a rivalry with the Public Safety Commission (another club), with effective control of the school at stake. There's another club in the anime that consists of three lovesick losers who engage in such activities as creating a harmless StalkerShrine.
* ''{{Genshiken}}'': The people who decide which clubs are official are cracking down on those that don't do anything, because there are so many clubs that even the Genshiken's remote space is coveted.

* The ''{{Glee}}'''s Glee Club is VERY unpopular, and anybody in it are social outcasts, a plot point in the series. They also occasionally start spontaneously singing in hallways, drawing the school's attention.
* ''{{Buffy}}'' tries and fails to join the cheerleaders. Someone else is so intent on joining the team that she's trying to kill people to get on, and so does Dawn, though there was a different spell in there.

* [[{{Community}} Greendale Community College]] is ''full'' of these, ranging from the debate team and the glee club to the Model United Nations. All of them turn their pet interests UpToEleven. The study group itself qualifies, despite being informal; it has a waiting list for membership and the Dean treats them as a school power faction.

* ''TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' had an episode where the students joined school clubs. Mandy joined the Secret Snake Club, who believes in a snake that will eat all of the cool kids. Billy joined the Secret Service club, and discovers the knitting club is being used for criminal intent.

* The ''{{Glee}}'''s Glee club is VERY unpopular, and anybody in it are social outcasts, a plot point in the series. They also occasionally start spontaneously singing in a hallway drawing the school's attention.

ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Note that these tropes can be different types of "serious business". It can be very exaggerated, like clubs determining all of your relationships in high school, or completely bogus, like harboring a plan to stop an apocalyptic prophecy. The trope may split if there are lots of examples.

* The most notable example is ''HaruhiSuzumiya''. Haruhi [[BlatantLies was just another high school girl]] who wanted to meet aliens, time travelers, sliders and espers... AND ACTUALLY MEETS THEM.

* The most notable example is HaruhiSuzumiya. Haruhi [[BlatantLies was just another high school girl]] who wanted to meet aliens, time travelers, sliders and espers... AND ACTUALLY MEETS THEM.
* Parodied in KeroroGunso. Fuyuki starts the paranormal club, but only has one other member in it (and she only joined because she had a crush on Fuyuki). The school newspaper also discovers the aliens' existence, but nobody believes them because they're a school newspaper (and because Fuyuki managed to confiscate their evidence).
* In RosarioToVampire, the protagonists are all members of the newspaper club (Tsukune origionally decided on joining the swim team instead, but that left Outer Moka heartbroken because, well, [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires and water...)]], which spends much of its time investigating other clubs. The newspaper club has a rivalry with the Public Safety Commission (another club), with effective control of the school at stake. There's another club in the anime that consists of three lovesick losers who engage in such activities as creating a harmless StalkerShrine.
* {{Genshiken}}: The people who decide which clubs are official are cracking down on those that don't do anything, because there are so many clubs that even the Genshiken's remote space is coveted.
* MagicUsersClub: Even though they actually are quite active, the magic users have to share meeting space with a different club, which causes some conflict.
* {{K-ON}}: Invoked in the manga, when Nodoka discovers Yui isn't in a club so late in the semester. Nodoka ponders, "So this is how a NEET begins", causing Yui to freak out.
* In CodeGeass, AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil President Milly is able to get every club on campus looking for Arthur by promising them increased funding, in addition to the kiss with a council member. At the end of the episode, Lelouch asks Milly to let the Japanese Suzaku join the student council by mentioning that students must be part of a club.

* The [[{{Glee}} Glee's]] Glee club is VERY unpopular, and anybody in it are social outcasts, a plot point in the series. They also occasionally start spontaneously singing in a hallway drawing the school's attention.
* {{Buffy}} tries and fails to join the cheerleaders. Someone else is so intent on joining the team that she's trying to kill people to get on, and so does Dawn, though there was a different spell in there.
* In one BlueBloods a sinister college club develops the ceremony of ritually "hunting" female students as if they were trophies. One member actually volunteers to rape his girlfriend on the grounds that he would be more "humane" then the other boys. It never seems to have occurred to him to warn his girlfriend or go to the cops until the cops actually caught him. His school club was just too important.

* School clubs give gameplay benefits in {{Disgaea3}}.
* In {{Persona3}} and {{Persona4}}, joining clubs can start several social links, and the characters involved in the Social Links can be altered depending on which club you join.
* School clubs are an extremely important part of the TokimekiMemorial series. Most of the winnable girls being members of specific clubs, joining their respective clubs is the only way to get some of their special Events and CGs. Also, School clubs give you powerful special attacks for battles; perfoming well in the club during the School Festival and, in the case of sports clubs, winning matches and Inter-High tournaments net you big Relationship Values towards the girls; and becoming the Club Master of the Science Club allows you to unlock the Shooters mini-games.

* TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy had an episode where the students joined school clubs. Mandy joined the Secret Snake Club, who believes in a snake that will eat all of the cool kids. Billy joined the Secret Service club, and discovers the knitting club is being used for criminal intent.
* {{Fillmore}} runs on this trope, along with AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil. The Safety Patrol has the power to arrest and punish students on their own, what else needs to be said?

* Parodied in KeroroGunso. Fuyuki starts the paranormal club, but only has one other member in it (and she only joined because she had a crush on Fuyuki). The school newspaper also discovers the aliens' existence, but nobody believes them because they're a school newspaper.

* This is TruthInTelevision in Japan, since it can be a key factor during secondary education.

* In one BlueBloods a sinister college club develops the ceremony of ritually [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean"hunting"]] female students as if they were trophies. One member actually volunteers to rape his girlfriend on the grounds that he would be more "humane" then the other boys. It never seems to have occurred to him to warn his girlfriend or go to the cops until the cops actually caught him. His school club was just too important.