For a lot of people, anime itself was already an after school special if not outright an extracurricular event. Anime was an escape at the end of the day from a mundane and pressuring world to a fun filled adventure so distinctly different in ideas, tone, and culture that it helped people change and explore their identities if it didn't help shape them in their entirety.
These little worlds were occupied by communities and cultures of their own, whether that meant the advanced geopolitics of a mech filled world, the lifestyle of a ninja village, or, as will be explored in this list, the tiny ecosystem of a club room. Condensing a sense of community and culture to an intimate and purposed level, clubs within anime are some of the most beloved and time honored tropes that have not only provided people some of their favorite Slice-of-Life moments in anime but have had more than a hand to introducing people to their new hobby. Let's run down a few of the ones that we all wanted to join.
10 Student Council (Kaguya-sama: Love is War)
There are a lot of fun picks that could fill out the "Student Council" slot. Anime like Prison School, Kill la Kill, and, to an extent, Code Geass all portray student councils in incredible, extraordinary events. However, this list will give the slot to a Student Council that not only purely focuses on its student (you know, at an actual academic sense) but also manages to entertain purely from the charm of its club members.
The student council of Kaguya-sama: Love is War is an efficient, dedicated machine when it comes to actually improving student life. It is only icing on top that being in the group also means getting to see all the sexual tension, icebreakers, and every other hilarity.
9 Body Improvement Club (Mob Pyscho 100)
It's difficult putting any kind of sports/excessive exercise club on this list. The premise being "We All Wanted to Join" meaning that the club itself must innately be enjoyable and not just the surrounding aspects of the show. So, to be real for a second, not that many people in real life (let alone those who watch anime) would be all that thrilled about a body improvement club.
However, Mob Psycho 100 manages to give it, like everything else it touches, a slight bit of humane magic for people to see beyond just the hard gym work. This society of muscular men manages to be one of the most supportive and positive groups found in any high school environment, providing unprejudiced attention and camaraderie to someone even as seemingly feeble as Mob.
8 High School Band (Hibike! Euphonium)
Hibike! Euphonium is a series that managed to make high school band look like a legitimate, life threatening gauntlet, where tears are shared off school and during practice.
That isn't to say that the series is all that intense of the show, but it does a fantastic job of getting the viewer intensely invested in what this band and music in its entirety means to these students. Just the fact that viewers of this show can sense an audible change in the characters' development just goes to show how legitimate of a study this fictional band is.
7 Shogi Club (March Comes in Like a Lion)
Some entries on this list are here, because the clubs themselves are enticing enough to join. However, others are here, because fans everywhere just want to hop through the screen and give the characters the hug that they need. Such is the way with March Comes in Like a Lion, and its living marshmallow, Rei.
This series is built on a tangible sense of togetherness and support all circling around the impending devastation of its main character. Viewers everywhere wanted to enter his world and help him, like every other character, break further out of his shell. Plus, joining the club would also mean learning shogi from a few Japanese masters. The show more than advocates for how fun that can be.
6 Drama Club (Clannad)
Within a similar token as March Comes in Like a Lion, fans of Clannad all wanted to give Nagisa a helping hand, when she and Tomoya both struggled to get people to reform their high school's drama club.
Especially knowing how tragic and tear jerking this series can get, the cute, Shoujou faces of the character are more than enough to get fans wanting to give them everything in the world. Such a school admission would involve the same adventures with Fuuko, Kotomi, and Tomoyo, with the added benefit of supporting a dying sect of the liberal arts.
5 SOS Brigade (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)
Joining this club would essentially just be like joining every anime fantasy at once. And what could possibly go wrong with that? In all seriousness though, the SOS Brigade is more than just the systemic enabling of a delusional yet all powerful high school girl. It is a celebration and satire of all that Slice-of-Life anime have come to make, creating plenty of festivity between making a website, going to a friend's mysterious uncle's island villa, or even just going to the pool (over and over again).
While this group does go on high concept, supernatural adventures, that itself is a fun fantasy that all watching thought about how they would personally handle. The brigade is certainly one with no boring meetings.
4 Volleyball Team (Haikyuu!!)
It's hard to put just any sports anime on this list. There's a center danger of reaching a redundancy in putting multiple entries yet an innate controversy in choosing just one. However, if there was ever a hot, new kid on the block that everyone wants to be friends with, it would be Hinata and his fellow teammates in Haikyuu!!.
While several points are going here for recency bias, Haikyu!! does get several more for just the sheer, growing size of its fandom and how that momentum persists to this day. Using frenetic action, incredible animation, and Shonen style passion, this series certainly has more than enough attention to make it on this list.
3 Sket Dan/Helper's Club (SKET Dance)
Some clubs just have an innate sense of adventure, no matter how miniscule the tasks are or how plain the setting is. SKET Dance is a series that manages to pull the same kind of intensity as its Shonen brethren, all while focusing it on simple tasks like helping someone with their Shoujo manga or helping someone with a bully.
The series itself is a parody of Slice-of-Life/romance series, bringing in a few extra layers of fun to the mixture, such as a mad science teacher and a tsundere needing help controlling their tsundere-ness.
2 Literature Club (Hyouka)
Anime is full of literature clubs, yet few ever really dedicate that much time to the premise. Hyouka, however, celebrates all what literature can do whether the viewer knows it or not. The series in its entirety is about solving everyday or classic mysteries by dissecting the bare bones of the information at hand, with the characters themselves drawing conclusions from what plot points or events are available or guessing how certain characters/archetypes may act.
Every interaction and movement in this club breaks down what could and does make a good story, surely providing more than enough for scintillating, after school conversations.
1 Host Club (Ouran High School Host Club)
Last but not least comes the high school club of any otaku's fantasies. The Ouran High School Host Club is an extracurricular activity like nothing else, providing classic Shoujo performances and seduction to a campy, spoiled elite. Its membership is comprised of some of the most colorful and cavalier gentlemen ever to try and take someone's money.
Their sense of performance and servitude is admirable to a fault, as everyone does everything within their power to entertain their guests while still looking out for one another. It's certainly a fun crew to hang around with and would definitely call for some interesting stories when looking through old yearbooks.