Japanese schools' extra-curricular activities are centered around "club activities" organized by the students themselves. Each club will generally be assigned its own room or other facilities, will have an advisor (who doesn't always appear on screen), and will have a powerful president (
kaicho) who'll be a significant character of some sort. For series that revolve around a specific club, the
Club President frequently replaces the
Student Council president in importance.
The three most commonly portrayed clubs are the student council, the school newspaper, and the Kendo team. For the student council, see
Absurdly Powerful Student Council and
Student Council President. For the newspaper, see
School Newspaper Newshound. For the Kendo team, see
Kendo Team Captain.
It's rare for a student to be a member of more than one club — club activities are generally too time-consuming to allow for it, and characters who do are generally the driven overachiever. The
Ordinary High School Student who isn't a member of
any club is said to be a member of the "Go Home Club". (Usagi does this in
Sailor Moon when she gets to
High School, as does Watanuki from
XXX Holic and Kagura from
Azumanga Daioh accuses the rest of the girls of this.)
Other less common clubs include:
- Minako's volleyball team in Sailor Moon.
- Miki's tennis team in Marmalade Boy.
- The amefuto (American-style football) team in Eyeshield 21.
- The Magic Users' Club in Mahou Tsukai Tai.
- The school chorus in Please Save My Earth. (Also, the "moon club.")
- The Auto Club (and dozens of others) in Ah My Goddess.
- The Masculine Competition Society (and the "Megu Group" and the "Society to Protect Megumi") in Tenshi Na Konamaiki.
- The Society for the Study of the Modern Visual Culture in Genshiken. In a subversion, the original Club President is a seemingly powerless nonentity who barely attends. Mysteriously, he seems nearly omniscient at times; it's implied that this is because he has hidden cameras throughout the school for his nebulous research project. He never confirms or denies this, but just hinting at it is enough to blackmail Saki into joining the club.
- The Haruhi Suzumiya Brigade to Bring More Excitement to the World, or "S.O.S. Brigade", in Suzumiya Haruhi.
- Not to mention the S.O.S. Brigade's wannabe rivals, the Computer Club, and their histrionic president.
- The go club in Hikaru No Go.
- And, of course, the Ouran High School Host Club.
- And don't forget the Black Magic Club.
- In Keroro Gunsou, 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.
- All members of the "Go Home Club" in Kare Kano are forcibly conscripted to participate in a play for the school culture festival.
- Sakura's cheerleading squad in Card Captor Sakura.
- Nayuki's track team in Kanon.
- Tamami's Occult Club in Mahoraba.
- Hitohira focuses on two rival clubs, the Drama Club and the Drama Research Society. As in Genshiken, it seems schools are uncomfortable with overlap, and the two must compete to stay official.
- The calligraphy club in Kamichu. The club holds its activities on the school roof, because it has only one member and thus doesn't rate a club room. Competition to get members (and thus stay viable) is a common theme of high-school-club-based anime.
- Similarly, Yuki is the only member of the Literature Club when Haruhi takes over the club room in Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuutsu.
- Zegapain also has an example of the one-member school club, in this case, the swimming club.
- Pretty Cure never forgets about clubs.
- Futari Wa Pretty Cure had Nagisa and Honoka as the stars of the lacrosse team and science club respectively, and in Max Heart they were both promoted to leadership of the clubs. Members of both clubs were recurring characters, and Nagisa's teammates Rina and Shiho were regulars.
- Additionally, Honoka was technically a member of several other clubs as well, although she was rarely able to attend meetings because of time constraints.
- In Futari Wa Pretty Cure Splash Star, Saki is the softball team's pitcher, and Mai eventually joins the art club after dithering about it for a while.
- Yes! Precure 5 had episodes focusing on Rin and Karen which showed off an assortment of the school's clubs. Rin is as a founding member of the futsol team, and Komachi is a member of the library committee. Find that combination in another anime. Also deserving of special mention is Nozomi, who joined a number of different clubs and brought disaster upon all of them—Rin won't shut up about how she was kicked out of the drama club for a combination of massive incompetence and mass destruction.
- Clannad has Nagisa working to reform the school's drama club, despite having no members and being oppressed by the student council.
- In Gakuen Heaven nearly every character is a member of a different club. The main character is forced to visit every club so he can choose one to join.
- All of the teams in The Prince Of Tennis are actually clubs, and their captains are basically the club president.
- In Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni, Mion Sonozaki is the Class/Club President. The school is so tiny that she can get away with being both.
- Mayura from Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok has a Mystery Club.
- So does Karin Sasamori from To Heart 2, except that what she means by Mystery Club is similar to the SOS Brigade.
- The Light Music Club from K-On.
- The Mahjong club in Saki
- The Astronomy Club in Sora no Manimani.
- The Literature Club in Crescendo, with Kaho as the club president
