History Main / ClubStub

* ''VideoGame/AbsentedAgeSquarebound'': The Sado Club (tea ceremony) is in danger of being disbanded [[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.

* ''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]].

* ''Manga/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.

* Often school clubs based on once popular activities and fads will fade out as older members graduate and incoming freshmen don't want to join. So even though in the past the club might have had dozens of members it is now just a ClubStub populated by a couple die-hards

* In ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'', 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).

* 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 ''Manga/AnoKiss'', 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.

* In ''Manga/TokureiSochiDantaiStellaJogakuinKoutoukaC3Bu'', 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 ''VisualNovel/{{Crescendo}}'', 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.

* 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. Ruru and her 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 teacher 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.

* [[VideoGame/{{Persona 3}} Gekkoukan High]]'s Home Economics (read: sewing) club 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.

* ''VideoGame/ManaKhemiaAlchemistsOfAlRevis'': It's difficult to notice, since he gains two members at once, but the only one aside from Flay is a lone beastgirl. [[spoiler: Unless you want to count a certain ghost, Pamela...]] His club is about to be disbanded before they show up.

** 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 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 Earth Sciences club are forced to merge due to each not having enough members to be a club on their own.

[[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 Geroge?", 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 [[GrumpyBear the only one who actually hates Lazlo.]]
[[/folder]]

** No long-term club in the series is shown to have more than three members, though with the exception of 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.

* ''LightNovel/KawaikerebaHentaiDemoSukiNiNatteKuremasuka'': 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.

** Tsumugi is the ''sole'' member of the Library Research Club. Given his [[ShrinkingViolet personality]], that's likely exactly how he wants it.

* In ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'', most of the clubs are smaller than usual, given that the named cast represents the entire school population (basically adding up to about a dozen students per year level). However, some clubs are small even by Yumenosaki standards:

** Shinobu is also the sole member of the Ninja Association, though it's admitted that associations use different rules to clubs and so the Ninja Association doesn't actually really do anything.

** 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 sole exception to this rule is the Info Club, which has only one member-Info-chan-and can't be shut down. ''Why'' this club is an exception will be explained later.