Cherry Tree High Comedy Club

"Laugh, and the world laughs with you!"

—tagline

Genki Girl Miley Verisse has decided to re-found the comedy club at Cherry Tree High. However, she's informed by her Arch Enemy and Student Council President Octavia Richmond that she has to have at least five members to form a new club... when, counting her roommate Harriet Sinclair, she only has two. With just over a month left until the deadline, can Miley gather enough new members to form the club?

The game was originally developed by doujin circle 773, and localized outside of Japan by Nyu-Media.

The Japanese website for the game can be found here, while the English-language site is here. The game can be bought at the webpage or at GamersGate. A Steam release was made in 2012 with localized names and settings, and then re-released in 2014 with the original Japanese names.

Tropes used in Cherry Tree High Comedy Club include:

• Alternate Character Reading: The original game's title, "manken", is a contraction of "manzai kenkyuubu" (comedy research club), but can easily be read as short for "manga kenkyuubu" (manga research club) instead. One character makes that mistake when Miley first talks about her new club. It's changed into a pun on "comedy" and "comic" (as in, comic books) in localization.
• Club Stub: Unlike in most series, you're playing as the one eagerly recruiting, rather than the one being eagerly recruited.
• Cultural Translation: The setting and the characters have been renamed into more Western names during localization.
• Cute Little Fangs: Vivian.
• Five-Man Band: You need at least this many club members by the end of the game, or else Miley won't get to reestablish the club.
  • The Hero: Miley.
  • The Lancer: Harriet.
  • The Big Guy, The Smart Guy, The Chick: Varies depending on who else you recruit.
• Foreign Exchange Student: Vivian Bergman.
• The Gambler: Dina.
• Genki Girl: Miley.
• Incredibly Lame Pun: Being a game about comedy, there are quite a few of these.
• Lampshade Hanging: Vivian wonders why there's a Japanese style castle and shrine, complete with Miko, in America. Miley tells her not to think about it.
• Like an Old Married Couple: How Vivian views Miley and Octavia's arguments.
• Lovable Jock: Vivian is very good at several sports, especially hockey.
• Miko: Elise.
• Multiple Endings: Depends on how many and which candidates you recruit.
  • Golden Ending: If you recruit all possible candidates.
• New Game+: Lets you carry over your Repertoire and knowledge of the candidates' likes and dislikes, but not anything else.
• New Transfer Student: Sara.
• Older Than They Look: May is canonically 15, but looks like a pre-teen. Miley constantly teases her for her "immaturity".
• Perky Goth: Cindy.
• Relationship Values: Each of the club member candidates can be talked into joining if you chat with them about their favorite topics. How well this works depends on Miley's own knowledge of the subject, and each topic can only be used once per candidate per game.
• Rich Bitch/Student Council President: Octavia.
• RPG Elements: Rather than adventurer levels and experience points, Miley's skills are judged across 12 different topics - Video Games, Politics, Romance, Fashion, etc - and doing certain activities around town (reading magazines, watching TV, etc) will increase those levels, allowing her to more easily befriend the six possible club recruit candidates.
• Save Point: Miley can only save the game by talking to Harriet in the dorm after hours.
• Shout-Out: Full of them; no surprise, given that Tezuka Productions (known for localizing the Phoenix Wright games) helped with the translation.
  • Miley seems to think Pretty Magical Madocca is a scary show.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Miley and Cindy.
• Walking the Earth: Miley goes on adventures every year, and has just come back from one at the start of the game.