Ga-Ra-Ku-Ta: Mr. Stain on Junk Alley (ガラクタ通りのステイン, Garakuta-dori no Sutein), also known as simply Mr. Stain, is a short-lived CGI-animated anime series created and directed by Ryuji Masuda.^[1] The producer of the show is Shunsuke Koga and the characters are designed by Wakako Masuda. The series involves surreal adventures centered on characters living in a junk-filled alley. The episodes are short, with a duration of about seven minutes, and usually start with Mr. Stain finding an object. The name of the episodes are the same as the items that Stain (or Palvan) finds.^[2] There is no dialogue, just music and sound effects. Each episode's ending credits show the characters who appeared along with their names in English, followed by a segment of everyone dancing and having fun.^[3]

The show was animated by Koga's studio The Fool, and premiered between 10:50 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. (JST) on December 31, 2002. It was broadcast in Japan by Kids Station, beginning January 6, 2003, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 12 p.m. (JST).^[4] It was also aired in Brazil and Latin America by Cartoon Network (as a part of their Adult Swim block), Funimation also included episodes of Mr. Stain on many of its other DVD releases. These short comedy bits were well received by DVD viewers and interest in the series grew.^[5] A DVD release of the show was also launched by Funimation for the US and Canada region.^[6]

Mr. Stain lives in a junk-filled alley and comes across objects in his searches. These objects seem ordinary at first but soon prove to be otherwise, resulting in awkward situations. He befriends a large feline, named Palvan, who almost always does not agree with Stain on the best use of a found item. Their arguments become extremely violent with one of them getting hurt, but things turn out well at the end. Both characters are very selfish but their tender side can also be seen.^[7] Mr. Stain is the only character who appears in all the episodes; Palvan is not in episodes four and ten. The rest of the characters appear occasionally in important roles, but can be seen in other episodes.

The characters in the series are an odd bunch with names that suggest their fate (or role) or their physique: Eaten is a fish that is consumed, Rings is a lizard that uses rings as an accessory around its neck, Pylon is a crab that uses a pylon as headgear, and Policeman is an officer of the law who comes to the alley on his rounds.^[8] Different minor characters, such as Squeezed dog and Masked monkey, appear in the series as inhabitants of "Junk Alley" besides Mr. Stain and Palvan. Others like Lost kitten and Stephanie, a young girl, accidentally enter the alley and are helped to find a way out. There is an abandoned baby and a pianist called Lifa, with whom Stain falls in love but must fight his alter-ego, Handsome Stain from the mirror world, for her affection.

Mr. Stain is a street-dwelling vagabond who uncovers the mysterious and bizarre world of Junk Alley. Objects in the alley have magically come to life. Stain makes friends and along with them has adventures within the alley. The episodes usually start with him finding an odd object and an adventure ensues. The episodes are comic with some thought-provoking scenes.^[9]

One touching episode is Heavenly Bird,^[10] where Stain discovers a bird in a cage and wants to eat it. After a riotous chase through the alley while he tries to capture the animal, Stain realizes that the bird is sad and dying. It just wants to see its tropical homeland. Stain works through the night to build a cardboard model of the bird's homeland and when the Heavenly Bird sees it, he thinks he's home and dies. Another episode, titled Toy Robot, is about a remote controlled toy that decides that it no longer wants to be a servant, but wants to fly like the birds it sees. Stain, being helpful, comes up with different ways of making the robot fly, with comically tragic results. The last episode is an epilogue to the series and is for half an hour. The story revolves around Stain who sees a woman living in a high rise apartment and immediately falls in love with her. After a few comic attempts to get to her, all of which fail, he accidentally switches places with the attractive Handsome Stain from his mirror. This Stain has no problems getting to the woman and seducing her.^[11]

The score was done by Meyna Co. (Formed by the music making duo Yoko Kumagai and Hidehiko Urayama) while the end music was done by HALCALI.