->''"This confirmed what I had thought before but had never been able to confirm definitively: Shizune and Misha are the student council. The ''whole'' student council."''
-->--'''Hisao''', ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo''

[[JapaneseSchoolClub School clubs play a big part in the life of any student]], and one of the first things a student will do upon arriving at a new school is to check out which club they want to join. So when the new student who will be our protagonist visits the club that will be the focus of the series to inquire about joining, he'll be hoping for a [[WelcomeEpisode warm welcome]] into a well-established and thriving group to discuss and share a common interest with. But our hero(ine) gets more than he (or she) bargained for. While the clubroom is strangely empty, the welcome he gets is a warm one, sure enough. In fact, it's suspiciously warm, and perhaps even forceful.

The reason for this soon becomes clear. The club was just about to be disbanded when our hero appeared. The most common reason the club finds itself on the chopping block is because of low membership, and even if it's not the only reason, lack of interest will still be at least a contributing factor. The remaining membership is thus very eager to recruit new people. It goes without saying that the protagonist will be the prime target. This hapless first-year student will find himself with the club's very existence on his shoulders, and the first challenge our hero will face is to help the club [[DebutQueue gather the required minimum number of members]] and re-establish the necessary infrastructure to stop the school's authorities from giving the club the axe.

In [[SchoolClubStories a series centered around a school club]], starting with this plot has a few functional advantages. Since most members will be just as new to the club as our hero, plenty of AsYouKnow exposition gets justified. It is also a good way to explain why new characters line up in a DebutQueue rather than being introduced all at the same time, and why the club ends up as a RagtagBunchOfMisfits.

Keep in mind that not all clubs with low membership will be in danger of being dissolved. They might exist outside of a school setting and are not beholden to any school authorities. It might even have been started by an antagonist specifically to exclude the hero or another positive, optimistic character. Such a club will stay comically small, however, since so few people find the victim unlikable.

Related to OddlySmallOrganization.

See also:
* SaveOurStudents, where it's a teacher trying restore a class' enthusiasm for non-extra-curricular activities.
* SaveOurTeam, which can overlap with this trope for high-school sports teams.
* BackFromTheBrink, where instead of a club in danger, a war is about to be lost.
* PuttingTheBandBackTogether, where a group's former members must be convinced to rejoin.

Note that this is TruthInTelevision. Japanese University clubs contains a long line of clubs that carry maybe two or three members each.

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* In ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'', the Nekomi Institute of Technology Motor Club consists of Tamiya and Otaki, until Keiichi shows up. These two skirt the edges of the HeterosexualLifePartners trope, until one of them starts going after the daughter of the university president.
* In ''Manga/AhMyBuddha'', the high school's Haniwa Research Club is the smallest one on campus until the two remaining members draw the attention of Hinata and Kazuki, which of course leads the rest of the temple crew to tag along... as well as apparently all of the male students, [[{{Main/Ecchi}} for the obvious reasons.]] The show undergoes a marked change in tone during their first field trip.
* In ''Manga/AiYoriAoshi'', the Meiritsu University's photography club is Suzuki and Sato, until Kaoru gets shanghaied just prior to the start of the show.
* In ''Manga/{{Beastars}}'', Haru is the only member of the Gardening Club at Cherryton Academy since the other members have already graduated. Her status as an outcast at school due to her reputation for [[ReallyGetsAround sleeping around]] hasn't helped to attract more members, either.
* In ''Manga/HikaruNoGo'', Tsutsui tries to create a go club at Haze Middle School. He's the only member until Hikaru shows up and manages to convince Mitani and all the gang to sign up.
* In ''Manga/TheDisappearanceOfNagatoYukiChan'', Yuki starts out as the only literature club member, but by the start of the series she's already convinced Ryoko and Kyon to join. By Episode 3, Haruhi would also be considered a member if not for the minor detail that she doesn't actually attend their school.
* ''Anime/DoItYourself'': The DIY Club starts off only consisting of its president, Yasaku, and she's in danger of losing her club house, a small lovingly-built shed behind the school, if she can't find four more members to join. In the first episode, she's able to recruit a new student named Serufu who wants to learn how to build things like the club markets.
* The Student Council in ''Manga/MedakaBox'' starts off with just two members, although more have been added over time.
* When the new school year starts in ''Manga/MaguchanGodOfDestruction'', Kyo is the only one left in the Occult Research Club after the others graduated, putting it at risk of dismissal. Her and Ruru get several of Magu's followers to meet the minimum number, but resort to [[DestroyerDeity Magu]] himself [[HughMann posing as a student]] for a fifth member. [[AchievementInIgnorance It works better than they could have expected]] because the teacher in charge notices the one-eyed slug-monster in a gym shirt, and keeps the club open because they actually found something supernatural. Magu then decides the club room will be his new temple.
* In ''Manga/RosarioPlusVampire'', there is a club of three pathetic guys who are basically stalkers. The newspaper club is nearly depleted of members when Moka and Tsukune join (and the rest of the UnwantedHarem follows soon afterwards).
* In ''Anime/{{Nightwalker}}'', the film club appears to consist of just Shunichi, Mikako, and Riho. [[spoiler: Then just the first 2 after Riho gets vampirized, forcing her to cut ties with her old life.]]
* The club in ''Manga/KOn'' starts out with NO members, since all the previous members graduated. Ritsu joins to be president of a club, so she drags in Mio, Mugi wanders by after a day, and Yui manages to show up at the end the first episode, fulfilling the membership quota to save the club. Although the club isn't ''truly'' saved until episode 5 (having to deal with Yui possibly being booted out due to sub-par performance on a test and lacking a club advisor until Sawako-sensei accepts the role). Azusa ends up in a similar situation in the restart manga, as she's only able to recruit her close friends Ui and Jun at first.
* ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}'' has Nagisa trying to restart the Drama Club by herself until Tomoya joins up. From there [[PowerOfFriendship everyone Tomoya comes in contact with joins pretty readily]]. Midway through ''After Story'', however, the club is closed down again, because everyone except for Nagisa (who is held back thanks to her illness preventing her from taking the finals) have all graduated. There's a somber scene of Nagisa checking up on the Drama Club classroom out of habit, only to find it empty.
* In ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'', the football team at the start of the story consists of only two players- they're able to play games only because Hiruma blackmails random students into joining the team when necessary. One of the central parts of the story is Hiruma discovering Sena's exceptional talent as a running back, forcing him to join the team permanently, and then exploiting his reputation in such a way that he can find other worthy permanent players. Even then, it takes a long, long time for them to finally assemble a permanent full team.
** This is one of the reasons the series is so fond of WhoNeedsOvertime; since they have ''just'' enough guys to field a team, virtually all of their full-timers play on offense, defense, ''and'' special teams - meaning that the team would simply be too exhausted to play competently should a game get to overtime.
* In earlier chapters of ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'', Yuuji joins an occult club which desperately needed more members and were being threatened with shut down by the student council.
* ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple'' has the Gardening Club, the only members of which are Kenichi, and a girl from his class.
* The Astronomy Club in ''Manga/SoraNoManimani'' was nearly disbanded before Saku joined, but with Hime eventually joining and Edogawa hanging around enough that he may as well be a member, it was saved. Mihoshi pretty much forced Saku into it, though.
* In ''Manga/StellaWomensAcademyHighSchoolDivisionClassC3'', the titular C3 Club needs only one more member in order to stay in business. They quickly set their sights on [[ShrinkingViolet Yura]], and spend the first two episodes trying to recruit her before she finally agrees to join.
* In the anime version of ''Manga/SgtFrog'', Fuyuki was the president and only member of Kissho Academy's Occult Club until Momoka joined. This was lampshaded in an episode where the school was going to disband the club unless they could turn up something interesting to present to the school.
* ''Go! Tenba Cheerleaders'' begins with the Rooting Club having a ''single'' member (the protagonist) - due to the club's other members graduating last year.
* ''Manga/BambooBlade'': Kirino Chiba, as the only active and participating member, was KendoTeamCaptain by default. Aside from her, the only members were Toyama and Iwasa, who only showed up to bully the newbies and girls, and Saya, who had recently [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere stormed out of the dojo in a huff]] ... again ... [[AchillesInHisTent and had yet to return]]. Everyone else had either graduated, were seniors who were about to graduate and were too busy trying to keep their grades up for kendo, or were driven off by Toyama and Iwasa's bullying.
* ''Manga/{{Nichijou}}'' has the infamous Go-Soccer club, with just two members that are stuck doing nothing since the club 'president' made up the WordSaladTitle for the club. Amazingly, this draws ''actual Go-Soccer practitioners'' down the line.
* The Fashion Club in ''Anime/HeartCatchPrettyCure'' only had one member when the series started - founder Erika. She nearly manhandles NewTransferStudent Tsubomi into joining, but calms down enough so that Tsubomi joins on her own and later convinces others to join by giving them discounts to her mother's clothing store Fairy Drop. By episode 7, Erika nearly loses the club because StudentCouncilPresident Itsuki left school early and Erika and Tsubomi couldn't give her the list of club members. They're able to chase her down and save the club, though.
* In ''Manga/GAGeijutsukaArtDesignClass'', this is what happened to the Art Club. Due to [[spoiler:a mishap when the CloudCuckooLander president promoted the club the previous year]], the club now only has three members. {{Downplayed}} in that while the club was eventually saved by merging with Campus Environment Club, the other club only have ''one'' member--that other club can't be disbanded because it provided volunteers to clean the school campus, and Sasamoto-sensei {{exploited}} this to use it as a "shell" to acquire other clubs so that she can have a [[MustHaveNicotine smoking room]].
* The titular club in ''Manga/{{Genshiken}}'' has a few members at the start, but arguably qualifies for this trope by dint of their sheer laziness (as the story makes clear later). At one point, the president of the student council decides to cancel all non-active clubs which, beside Genshiken, include some ridiculous clubs like "plant watering club", "bucket droppers club" or "kneaders club".
* The ESP Club in ''Manga/KotouraSan'' has only two members before Yuriko abducted [[{{telepathy}} Haruka]] in. That was because Yuriko's abduction of others into the club didn't fare so well... although Haruka was fine with it, since [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer there are few people who can accept her powers to start with]].
* The Data Processing Club in ''Manga/{{Yuyushiki}}'' was completely empty by the time the main trio enters.
* In ''Anime/{{Kamichu}}'', the calligraphy club holds its activities on the school roof, because it has only one member and thus doesn't rate a club room.
* ''Anime/{{Zegapain}}'' has Kyo as the only member of the swimming club.
* In ''VisualNovel/MashiroIroSymphony'', the Nuko Club, which cares for injured animals, originally consists of only Miu and Sana. It's not until halfway through the series that it reaches six members and becomes an officially recognized club.
* In ''Anime/CuteHighEarthDefenseClubLove'', the titular Earth Defense Club (which doesn't do anything) is one short of the required five members before episode one. Since they're the bane of the local StudentCouncil who'd do anything to get rid of them, this plot point crops up with moderate frequency.
* The Manga club in ''Manga/{{Evergreen}}'' isn't small enough to be in danger of disbanding, but only Hotaka and On actually do perform its duties.
* ''Literature/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'': A large part of the anime's plot in the first season is starting Rikka's "Far Eastern Magical Nap Association of Summer" and keeping it running.
* In ''Manga/KissAndWhiteLilyForMyDearestGirl'', Yukina and Towako are the only two members left in the gardening club, and are in their last year, making them desperate to find new members − lest the club be immediately disbanded. But there's always something ruining their attempts at recruiting. So they more or less force Yurine to join the club, at least until their budget is secured… But as it turns out, Towako ''doesn't want'' to save the club and deliberately thwarted Yukina's recruitment efforts. In the end Yukina manages to beat some sense into her and Yurine accepts to take over the club, as its now only active member.
* The Outdoor Activities Club in ''Manga/LaidBackCamp'' doesn't get a lot of funding and can't even get a full clubroom; because it only has two members at the show's outset (with Nadeshiko joining in Episode 2), all they get is a large-ish closet where most of the floorspace is taken up by a line of storage cubby holes. However, this doesn't really bother Chiaki and Aoi very much, since they figure they'll be spending most of their club time outdoors anyway and they have part-time jobs to make money to fund their camping trips.
* ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'':
** The Volunteering Club was originally founded by Kashiwagi as a way to get closer to her boyfriend. She later gets her best friend Maki to join after the club adviser told her that they needed more members (unaware that Maki has had a crush on her boyfriend from long before they started dating). Maki admits that it's pretty much hell for her as they make out with each other whenever they think she isn't looking.
** No long-term club in the series is shown to have more than three members, though with the exception of the aforementioned Volunteering Club and the Tabletop Gaming Club (which is explicitly stated by Fujiwara to not have enough people to play four player games), it's implied that they all have more members that are just not shown. This would later be proven true in chapter 60 of ''We Want to Talk About Kaguya'', where the Mass Media Club is shown to have at least six people.
* In ''Manga/AsteroidInLove'', the Astronomy Club and the Geology club are forced to merge into the Earth Sciences club due to each not having enough members to be a club on their own. Even with new members added at the start of the series, the club only has five members. After the two founding third-years graduate, the club gets two new first-years at the start of the following year, keeping the member total at five.
* In ''Manga/MagicalSempai'', at the start of the series, only the eponymous Sempai and Assistant are members of the Magic Club.
* In ''Manga/ATropicalFishYearnsForSnow'', Koyuki is the only member of the Aquarium Club at the start of the series, before Konatsu joins. Since Koyuki plans on quitting during her third year to focus on exam's, the club's future is very much in doubt.
* In ''Manga/WhenWillAyumuMakeHisMove'', Ayumu and Urushi are the only members of their school's ''TabletopGame/{{Shogi}}'' club. It wasn't until Takeru (albeit in-name only) and Rin join do they become a legitimate club.
* ''Manga/{{Mono|2017}}'' has both the Cinema and Photography Clubs on the verge of closure whose third-year members graduated before the events of the story, leaving both of them to only have two members only. Photography Club only has ''two'' members including Satsuki and An, while Cinema Club is just the same as Photography Club, as it only has ''one'' regularly appearing member, which is the club president Sakurako, since Tajima only shows up twice as TheGhost member. Both clubs were later merged under Sakurako's choice as the Cinephoto Club, thanks to having four members minimum including the absentee Tajima.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'' features a terrorist group that has split into [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb_qHP7VaZE several very small and confusingly similarly named groups]].
-->Whatever happened to the Popular Front?
-->He's over there.
* In ''Film/PitchPerfect'' the Bellas are down to two members prior to auditions because all the other Bellas graduated.
* ''Film/{{Hamlet 2}}'': the theater class consists of two students until several other classes are cancelled for various reasons and the students in them have no other option.
* In the Japanese film ''Swing Girls'', there's a temporary example - almost the ''entire'' school band is hospitalized after a group of girls in summer school [[ItMakesSenseInContext get them food poisoning]], leaving the one member still healthy with the unenviable task of finding replacements before the next game. He manages through scraping together three volunteers (two of whom don't even play band instruments at all) and forcing the summer school girls to help out. Even then, they only have enough people to play swing and big band music.
* In the MadeForTVMovie ''We're Fighting Back'' about the origin of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardian_Angels Guardian Angels]] they started as a club of three, who were joined by a couple of other people who had a club of two of their own doing basically the same thing. The "other club" which wanted to join with the proto-Guardians called themselves the "Dozen Cousins" to make people think there were more people in the group than there were.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' includes The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. Set up by Hermione, and consists solely of, Hermione (and technically a few others like Ron and Harry, who only joined to stop her pestering them about it, only to find after joining that she's now pestering them to be more active in the club). While it's mostly played for humour - she's trying to liberate beings who are perfectly happy the way they are, it touches a fair amount on the racism wizards show to non-humans.
* In ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'', the literature club has only one member, Yuki, who gets absorbed into Haruhi's SOS Brigade, which itself was composed of two members. Haruhi quickly recruits two more people, which forms the core cast of the series. On the other hand, the SOS Brigade is never officially recognized as a club by the school. [[spoiler:But the literature club is later threatened with disbandment since it's still only Yuki.]]
* ''Literature/HensukiAreYouWillingToFallInLoveWithAPervertAsLongAsShesACutie'': When Sayuki's seniors graduated and left her as the sole member of the Calligraphy Club, the club was in danger of disbanding due to a lack of members. Fortunately, Keiki joining is enough to save the club, since two members seems to be the minimum in this particular school.
* ''Literature/MyDarkAndFearsomeQueen'': The drama club has plenty of members, but they're all girls, which doesn't work very well when the vast majority of plays have at least one male role. So they abduct guys from the library and force them to audition. The club's also lacking an adviser, which means they aren't officially recognized by the school.
* PlayedWith in ''Literature/{{Tsurune}}''. Unlike most examples, it is through the initiative of the school staff that the plan to prevent the club's closing is carried out, instead of the traditional version with the enthusiastic newbies who take up to themselves to gather new recruits. Ironically, getting ''the main protagonist'' to join the club too takes more time than the resident JerkWithAHeartOfGold who nonchalantly joins without much trouble.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** Buffy & Giles were a club of two until they were joined by Xander and Willow. FWIW Xander and Willow were a club of three with Xander's best friend Jesse, who was killed off in the pilot.
** Also played for laughs in ''Buffy'': Xander and Willow were president and treasurer of the "We Hate Cordelia Club" in junior high. They were also it's ''only'' members (not even [[ForgottenFallenFriend Jessee]] was in it).
* The "I Hate Rachel Greene Club" from ''Series/{{Friends}}'' consisted solely of Brad Pitt and Ross. Angelina Jolie seems to have replaced Ross.
* The pilot of ''Series/{{Glee}}'' begins with the titular club being a Club of Two before the adult hero steps in to get it turned around.
* In ''Series/TheOC'', Seth Cohen is the president and only member of not one but a whole lot of these clubs. Also, later on he and Zach are the only members of the comic book club.
* There was an episode of ''Music/FlightOfTheConchords'' where Jemaine and Brett were mugged by a two-man gang. Also, the Conchords' fan club has one (obsessed) member.
* The "End Hunger Now" club (at first with just one member) in ''Series/ANTFarm'' was founded by Cameron so that he could get school funds to spend on chicken wings for himself. Fletcher blackmails him into letting him join the club by threatening to reveal the scam. Later, Principal Skidmore comes into the room, guesses immediately what is going on, and decides to join as well. At the end of the episode Olive asks about joining, but is chased off by the other three.
* The A/V Club from ''Series/ToddAndTheBookOfPureEvil'' consists of a grand total of two nerdy male students.
* ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'': In "Drew and the Conspiracy", Drew discovers the existence of the 'We Hate Drew Care Club', which has been pranking him and generally making his life miserable. It consists of three Winfred-Lauder employees who blame Drew for ruining their lives. They even have a club song.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* The Get Rid Of Slimy girlS ([[FunWithAcronyms GROSS]]) club in ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', which involves only the titular characters. So one of its two members may or may not be ''imaginary''. In the commentary for the 10th anniversary book, Bill Watterson notes that he and a childhood friend used to form these in real life all the time.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/AbsentedAgeSquarebound'': The Sado Club (tea ceremony) is in danger of being disbanded [[spoiler:because the vice-principal framed them for smoking, causing all the members to leave.]] The club advisor, Mr. Minami, recruits Karen, Hayato, and Suzu in exchange for letting them refashion the Sado Club into the Sado Band Club and allowing them to practice their music.
* Gekkoukan High's Home Economics (read: sewing) club in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' appears to be made up of only the Player Character and Bebe. Likewise, the Cooking Club is made up of only Player Character and Fuuka.
* In the "Real Life, Real Heart" stage of ''VideoGame/OsuTatakaeOuendan2'', the protagonist Yuri discovers that the famous choir club at her new high school has dwindled down to only the president, Kaoruko, who promptly begs her to help get new members and help them win a singing contest before the club gets shut down.
* ''VideoGame/ManaKhemiaAlchemistsOfAlRevis'': Flay is introduced recruiting “interesting” freshmen to his workshop, as all the former members had just graduated. [[spoiler: Unless you count [[CuteGhostGirl Pamela]], which the vice principal doesn’t seem to.]] Nikki’s off-screen recruitment, followed by Vayne and Jess’, are just enough to keep the space from being reassigned.
* ''Franchise/TouhouProject''
** Maribel and Renko, characters appearing in [[AllThereInTheManual supplementary works]], are the only members of a university club for necromancers. And neither of them is a necromancer.
** In their past (what to us is the present day), Sumireko was the founder, and the only member of the Secret Sealing Club. However, her intention ''was'' to create a club what only she would be interested in in order to drive other people away from herself.
* ''VideoGame/TwistedWonderland'': Night Raven College has two one-member clubs, and its music club at the present only has 3 members left, and is so underperforming that they have to hold a concert to avoid getting shut down.
* ''VideoGame/EscapeFromStMarys'' sends you recruiting for the beleaguered website team as a side quest. It does not go well.
* In ''VideoGame/CherryTreeHighComedyClub'', protagonist Miley and her roommate Harriet (who [[PressGanged joined "unofficially"]]) are the only two members of the eponymous club. Miley's goal is to find at least three more members before the end of April to make the club official.
* In ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'', if a club's membership dips below five students (due to Yandere-chan killing a student or making them go missing), there won't be enough members to justify keeping the club open and the school will shut it down. This cuts Yandere-chan off from joining that club or reaping any of its benefits. The same can also happen if the club leader is killed or goes missing (and, considering that half the rivals are club leaders, it's a very distinct possibility).
** The sole exception to this rule is the Info Club, which has only one member in it (Info-chan) and can't be shut down. ''Why'' this club is an exception will be explained later (though what little info that ''has'' been revealed suggests that blackmail's involved).
** The AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil, which strictly speaking ''isn't'' a club, but gameplay wise will function as one, also will not disband if Yan-chan somehow manages to murder a member. However, that automatically sends the game to HarderThanHard, as cameras and metal detectors will be installed, making it easier for her to get caught.
* In ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'', most of the clubs are smaller than usual, given that all clubs are formed solely out of the 40 or so named cast members. However, some clubs are small even by Yumenosaki standards:
** Tsumugi is the ''sole'' member of the Library Research Club.
** Shinobu is also the sole member of the Ninja Club, though he would like to recruit more members, and he is also part of the Broadcasting Club which has a more sensible 3 members and actually does club-like activities.
** Natsume and Sora are the only members of the Gaming Research club.
** Tetora and Kuro are the only members of the judo club; given his borderline-romantic admiration of Kuro, Tetora does not mind at all.
** While the Marine Bio Club does have three members, Kaoru rarely shows up and only joined because he knew it'd be easy to skip meetings (and it's mandatory for students to join a club), so for practical purposes Kanata and Souma run it themselves.
* ''VideoGame/PrincessMaker5'': Michiru wants the daughter to join the athletics club because they're low on members.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
%%
%% ''X-Change'' was removed from the wiki for violating the content policy.
%% Do not replace the pothole or attempt to recreate the page.
%%
* In the ''X-Change'' H-Games, the chemistry club only ever consists of two or three people depending on the game.
* ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'':
** During Shizune's route Hisao discovers that "Shizune and Misha are the student council. The ''whole'' student council." If you stay on Shizune's route, he becomes the third member.
** In Emi's route, Mutou starts a science club with himself and Hisao as the only participants.
* In ''VisualNovel/CrescendoJP'', the literature club has only 3 active members (technically, the school requires a minimum of 5 members for a club to be officially recognized, so the club also contains two additional "members" who have not, strictly speaking, actually attended so much as a single club meeting.
* In ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'', the eponymous club, only has 4 members before the protagonist joins. Monika explains that she prefers to avoid the politics and budgeting of larger clubs. [[spoiler: In Act 2, where Sayori has been deleted, Monika gets the protagonist to join by explaining there won't be enough members for the club to stay open otherwise.]]
* In ''VisualNovel/{{Ever17}}'', You (nickname, not pronoun) and Sara met due to You's pushiness to get members into her disbanding "computer club." An annoyed Sara hacks all the computers at once, making them all unusable.
* In ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'', Ciel is the president and sole member of the Tea Ceremony Club.
* ''VisualNovel/LittleBusters'':
** Haruka is very dedicated to her club, the School Maintenance Committee, which Riki had never even heard of. In her route, she manages to convince him to come along to a meeting...which involves her standing in front of a blackboard and dictating to him. Meaning that she, herself, ''is'' the club.
** Kud ends up joining a cooking club that was going to be disbanded soon.
* In ''VisualNovel/RoboticsNotes'' the robotics club only has two members, one who is only there to help out his friend who is very passionate about it.
* At the start of ''VisualNovel/IfMyHeartHadWings'', the Soaring Club is in danger of being shut down due to only having one member, a member that [[spoiler: should have graduated years ago but intentionally flunked her classes to stay at the school.]]
* In ''VisualNovel/KindredSpiritsOnTheRoof'', the math club only has one member- Kiri Tsurugimine- and the advisor, Tsukuyo Sonou. However, they make an effort to recruit some new members during the SchoolFestival, and succeed in getting some newcomers.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': Homestar and Strong Sad are the only members of the [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/79secondsleft.html Wet Knee Gumption Club]]
* Given that ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' [[PersonOfMassDestruction Freelancers]] are named after US States (except for [[NoodleIncident poor Florida]], [[spoiler: actually, he exists]]) it's surprising that there are only about a dozen Agents, all told. On-screen, at least.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* The titular club from The Anime Club segments of [[http://gunshowcomic.com/181 Gun Show]] consists of only four members. Justified in that they're actually a splinter group from the school's much larger Japanese Animation Club and aren't actually an officially recognized by the school.
* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', the feminist club at the beginning of the "Sister II" arc is [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2008-05-07 apparently only seven members]] to begin with so membership drops to three when the unnamed and minor characters leave. This puts the club under [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2008-05-09 the seven member minimum it needs to be recognized by the school]] at a time when Susan could really use the resources being in an official club would give her in order to further her cause. Fortunately, due to Tedd's actions, by the middle of the arc, the club has enough members again.
* ''Webcomic/MobPsycho100'': the Telepathy Club is desperate for another member, as they're about to be shut down from low membership, eventually trying to recruit Mob, who actually ''does'' possess psychic powers. Just as they're about to be shut down, their club room in the school already being sized up by the newly-formed Body Improvement Club, Mob agrees that he'll join...the Body Improvement Club, because he wants to do exactly that. The Telepathy Club is okay with it, though--only their club president was actually interested in pursuing real developments with telepathy and the others just wanted a place to hang out and eat junk food. The Body Improvement Club is okay with it, too--they just wanted a place to store their exercise equipment and let the ex-Telepathy Club keep using the room.
* ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'':
** While Undine and Kokoro are SittingOnTheRoof of their school, they end up being [[https://www.sleeplessdomain.com/comic/chapter-18-page-4 caught by a member of the school Gardening Club]], who berates them for using the roof without permission. The page's AltText clarifies that this girl is the Gardening Club's only real member.
** Later AltText suggests this trope is averted altogether, as club participation as a whole is rather low due to the...y'know, {{Magical Girl}}s defending the city thing.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'':
** In the episode, "My Club Rules", six start out in the Parade Float Club, but due to Wacky Hijinks everyone ends up in a club of one. They reband at the end showing the PowerOfFriendship.
** In "Do You Speak George?", Muffy & Francine make up their own language, Buster & Arthur make up their own language, etc. Finally they decide it's too confusing and all go back to English (or whatever the show is dubbed into in international markets).
* In ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo'', Edward forms an anti-Lazlo club, and tells Lazlo that he belongs in "the Nothing Club". So Lazlo goes and forms the Nothing Club, and little by little all the others start joining him, while Edward's club dwindles down to just himself, since he's the only one who actually hates Lazlo.
* Shortly before Luz starts her first semester at [[WizardingSchool Hexside]] in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'', she talks about forming a ''[[ShowWithinAShow Good Witch Azura]]'' book club with Amity. We see a season later during the club fair that the two of them are the only members, since King is the only other person on the entirety of the Boiling Isles who actually has a passing interest in the series, and he don't even attend the school.
[[/folder]]

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