Captcha Encyclopedia! Look here first!

[Syklo]

Instead of relying on some forum user that will happen to help you within the 2-minute timer the captcha has before refreshing, you should try to solve it yourself, and this thread is here to help you with JUST THAT!.

Just as a forewarning, this thread is SPECIFICALLY to assist in the captcha component as well as a "help & support center" for captcha-related problems (post for help here, not in your own thread!). If you need assistance in the entire registration process, AIDA's got it covered

Also, do read this entire OP - it'll save many headaches to come

Methods of attack - Your captcha-rsenal
A brief rundown:

1. Type 1's refer to copying the japanese characters and pasting them into captcha. Tedious and tricky as it requires frequent window switching and finding for the characters you need, but no learning required! (Recognition will greatly help, however)
2. Type 2's refer to alternative methods of directly inputting the japanese characters, such as through handwriting recognition, altering keybindings to input one character at a time or using another typewriter. Recognition will help, but more time is required for preparation and familiarity with the tools provided. Much faster than simple copy-paste.
3. Type 3's refer to tools that give a little bit more help outside of captcha. Broader and less specialised, it's more so designed to help you finish the entire registration form to get more time for captcha, but it does have captcha assistance. Best done in combination with type 1/2

Type 1-A: Copy-pasta
See spoiler↓

Spoiler!

Here I present to you, the entire hiragana alphabet:

Basic:あいうえお　かきくけこ　さしすせそ　たちつてと　なにぬねの　はひふへほ　まみむめも　やゆよ　らりるれ ろ　わをん
Alternative: がぎぐげご　ざじずぜぞ　だぢづでど　ばびぶべぼ
Alternative2: ぱぴぷぺぽ
Small script: ぁぃぅぇぉ　っ　ゃゅょ

And if it's needed somehow in the future, the katakana alphabet!

Spoiler!

Basic：アイウエオ　カキクケコ　サシスセソ　タチツテト　ナニヌネノ　ハヒフヘホ　マミムメモ　ヤユヨ　ラリルレ ロ　ワヲン
Alternative: ヴ　ガギグゲゴ　ザジズゼゾ　ダヂヅデド　バビブベボ
Alternative2: パピプペポ
Small script: ァィゥェォ　ッ　ャュョ

Just copy and paste what you need.
Small script is just for really abnormally small japanese characters such as in ひゃこ. Doubt you'll need to use it though.

Type 1-B: Copy-Pasta; Organised by shape
See spoiler↓

Spoiler!

Lots of people still struggle with characters of similar shape, which is understandable and.....normal. So this time, I'm going to do just like in type 1-A, but organise them based on shape:
Leftovers:う　かくけ　しすせ　つてと　の　ひふへ　みむも　やゆよ　ら
がぐげ　じずぜ　づでど　びぶべ
ぴぷぺ　

あお
なただ
ぬめ
さざ　きぎ
ねれわ
るろそぞ
ちぢを
はばぱ　ほぼぽ　ま
えん
にこご
いり
I highlighted し to emphasis that it is its own character, i.e. に≠し+こ
Do take care of the little " and ° marks - they matter!

Type 2-A : Online Typewriter

Here is a website with buttons that act as typewriters for the hiragana script of japanese. Just click to type, then copy (the copy button doesn't work for me, so just select>ctrl+C if you experience the same problem)

Type 2-B : DIY Typewriter **Experimental & likely difficult; Actual results may vary per user**
See spoiler↓

Spoiler!

I do not recommend this option, however it may be a better option for some of you compared to the online typewriter.
First, this requires that you have the japanese keyboard input set-up. Details can be googled, but it's simply:
-Control panel
-Region/Language settings
-Keyboard Settings
and insert japanese (Microsoft IME) from there.

After that, for the sake of this method, configure it (via properties) such that the input method is "Kana input" and not "Romaji Input".
To activate the japanese input, make sure it is selected in the language bar, then click the "A" button and change it from Direct input to Hiragana.
Now the really tough part - learning your new keyboard.
I've been experimenting with this, but your keyboard layout MAY be different from mine: QWERTY. Refer to these screenshots:

The blocks have been color-coded according to the hiragana alphabet sections, but there aren't enough colors for that many distinct blocks Because of that, I also provided a small text-only chart to the side of the above picture.
Note on the わ／を Key: わ is the normal '0' input, but Shift+0 changes it to を. Shift modifies some other keys too, but only for small script.
The " and ° keys should be self-explanatory - modifying most of the characters to feature those...things - type them after the character in question.

If you choose to proceed with this option, good luck to you, as I can't guarantee the accuracy of the material provided. Simplest way to go about it - keep the screenshot(s) off to the side as reference, whilst you type.

To be honest though, it's probably much much easier to learn the alphabet itself and its romaji, and just use romaji input...

Type 2-C: DIY Handwriting recognition (may not work for all users)
See spoiler↓

Spoiler!

Like type 2-B, this requires Japanese IME keyboard to be set up. If you do not how to do this, google it, but it's as simple as:
-Control Panel
-Region/Language settings
-Keyboard settings
However, if you're unable to "install" the asian languages, then you won't be able to do this.

To start off, make sure you're in kana typing mode.
Start typing a phrase, and press F5 to open up the IME pad. If that doesn't work, restore the language bar and open IME pad that way:


The IME pad will open up; Click this button for handwriting mode:

The following will then be available:

Now you can draw characters with your mouse, and hope for the best that you find what you want!
NOTE: The IME Pad will disappear once you change your input language, so you have to repeat this process to get it back up and running!

Type 3 - Browser assisted

Transzilla Kion has put up a handy Google Chrome extension which makes the entire registration process, login (to website) and Personal Info sections so much easier to do! It even integrates the hiragana typewriter linked above into the registration page! Check it out!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS/MIX-UPS
Read if you're getting confused between look-alike characters:
(These are more like testimonials, heh)

Spoiler!

Summary:
ら　≠　ろ　≠　そ　≠　る
ね　≠　れ　≠　わ
に　≠　こ　≠　た　≠　な
ま　≠　ほ　≠　は
さ　≠　き
め　≠　ぬ (thanks maronji!)
あ　≠　お
ち　≠　を

Also watch for the little " dashes (aka "ten-ten"s) and °'s (aka "maru's") in
は；ば；ぱ

I don't have a captcha picture for them, but

me (め) and nu (ぬ)

look incredibly similar (at least to me) and are among the ones I mix up the most. Just commenting on this in case you get a captcha picture for either of them (so you can consider adding them to the new section).

The new section he mentioned here was where I have a gallery of such captchas combining these look-alikes together. Unfortunately, due to the captcha mechanics, these catpcha pictures expire themselves after some time, so the section itself, expired. IF you want to necro this section, provide SCREENSHOTS of such captchas (not direct img links to the captchas!)

If you want insight from one who has went through learning the alphabet:

Spoiler!

When I began learning, what made it difficult was how similar so many things were, despite being scattered across references. I'd need one with a certain curl, but wouldn't be able to find it. I wound up skimming references line by line looking for all the ones that looked like it until I found it. I'd spend MOST of my time doing this for stuff like captchas, over and over because of how many there were.

So here they are grouped together (in no particular order), because that's what I needed the most back then before I wound up just learning the whole damn thing:
あぬめお
うつ　づ
きさち　ぎざぢ
けにこ　げご
はほまも　ばぼぱぽ
すせそ
たな だ
ねれわ
るろら

Then for katakana there aren't quite so many similar ones, but they are there:
シツ ジヅ
ウワラフ　ヴプブ
クケタヌ　グゲダ
ヒセ　ピゼ
チナテ　ヂデ
コロ　ゴ
ソン　ゾ
リルレノ

Uuuh, at a quick skim that should cover most of the similar-ish looking ones. I'm sure I missed a couple. I swear, that was the most confusing part when trying to learn hiragana. In katakana I could at least fill in the blanks since I knew item names in romaji, but hiragana was in actual japanese ha ha ha.

edit: obviously these lists aren't complete, because I was just grouping together the ones with similar bases or whatever they're actually called. The other ones are pretty easy to identify on their own.

He brings up an interesting point (not explicitly stated):
the captchas shown are in handwritten font (i.e. pseudo-cursive). Because of that, you may mix up kana such as に and ほ as seperate characters: し+こ　Or　し+ま; watch out!

If you wish to succeed in this pesky captcha's, PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL!

Need some practice?

Spoiler!

You're likely going to struggle completing the captcha in 2 minutes during registration, so here are some sample captcha's I've grabbed throughout this thread, for you to practice with. Spoiler-boxing each answer is tedious, lol.
Anyway, the onus is on you to know whether you've succeeded within the two minute timer. Maybe if someone could make a flash game of sorts using these...that'd help.
Ready?
GO!

Spoiler!

はつみあえ

Spoiler!

くくやさゆ

Spoiler!

ろそみもゆ

Spoiler!

るんすみあ

Spoiler!

めひほおし

Spoiler!

てくさきぬ

Spoiler!

ししをすし
Author's note: I'm aware that the last character indeed looks more like レ than し, due to the line cutting in there. However, it's safe to assume that captchas don't mix up between alphabets (former is katakana, latter is hiragana).

Spoiler!

せんかんをみ
this is an old one, so don't worry too much about it if you can't get this one

Spoiler!

けくちすをす
another old one.

Spoiler!

きむをやん

Spoiler!

Triple killer! If you managed to bust all 3 within 2 minutes, you're more than ready! (they're actually 3 separate captchas though, so 6 mins is fine too!)
さつやええ
まめわやさ
りれけとり

Spoiler!

といほひよ

Spoiler!

せもんられ

Got questions about these? Are the images gone? Wanna dispute the answers?
Discuss here!
Also, credits to all who've posted these captchas, and those who've replied/helped with them (even though I didn't actually copy your replies) - you know who you are!

Finally, if you still fail for whatever reason, get assistance for your captcha here (First time to check when someone responds, 2nd time - refresh your captcha and HASTALAVISTA)
A word from the OP:

Spoiler!

It's been almost 2 years since this thread was made, and I'd like to thank everyone who've helped bring this to light.
It's been a while since I last updated this...hehe, sorry about that; RL and all.

I'd just like to say something else though:
While I appreciate those of you who have tried to PM me directly for captcha, I just want to tell you that you're LESS LIKELY to get help from a PM than simply posting here. Reason is because, as far as I know, emails are the only method of notification on these forums, and while I get heaps of those, due to filters, I don't really get notifications from all those emails. I basically pop on whenever I feel like it. (if anyone could enlighten me on how to tailor email notification behaviour for -specific- threads, whilst still maintaining all other subscriptions, I'm open to suggestions)
The other reason being that.....I'm simply not available most of the time. That can include time zone differences.
You're more likely to benefit from others who follow this thread. More helpers = more chances, yeah?

SO POST HERE, AND ONLY HERE, FOR CAPTCHASSISTANCE.

Phew, ok. Now I'll be sifting through this thread for any remaining captcha screenshots to compile a samples list. Be back with another quick update.