Altered Carbon: Resleeved (オルタード・カーボン：リスリーブド) — 2020
On the planet Latimer, Takeshi Kovacs must protect a tattooist while investigating the death of a yakuza boss alongside a no-nonsense CTAC agent. The story follows Kovacs as he becomes entangled in a violent yakuza succession conflict. As he works to keep Holly safe, he uncovers deeper tensions tied to the clan’s traditions and power struggle.
Narrative Score
Full Plot & Ending Explained
Intro
Takeshi Kovacs is needlecast into Latimer in a new military sleeve and is hired by yakuza boss Hideki Tanaseda to protect Holly Togram, a teenage tattooist, while investigating the death of Tanaseda’s younger brother in the rival Mizumoto syndicate. Holly is already on the run from yakuza enforcers, and Kovacs quickly realizes that the case is tied to a much larger succession struggle inside the clan.
Turning Point 1
Holly is chased through Latimer and reaches a club, where yakuza catch up to her, only to be slaughtered by a ninja attacker; Kovacs intervenes and fights the ninja off. Holly and Kovacs then meet Tanaseda, who explains that he wants Holly protected and the truth about his brother’s death uncovered, while Holly is forced to flee again and collides with Gena, a hard-edged CTAC operative.
Turning Point 2
Kovacs, Gena, and Holly are ambushed by more ninjas after CTAC reinforcements arrive, and the three barely survive the attack by killing the assailants together. Holly then reveals that Shinji is behind the ninjas and is planning a coup inside the Mizumoto syndicate, pushing the trio toward the syndicate headquarters and the Wild Geese hotel, where the AI butler Ogai greets them and Shinji publicly acts relieved that Holly is alive.
Turning Point 3
Inside the Mizumoto operation, Kovacs speaks with Genzo and learns the clan’s succession ritual: the outgoing boss is supposed to die, along with his stack, through a programmed death system embedded in the tattoos. Holly keeps tattooing Shinji, and the film reveals that the ritual is meant to transfer leadership cleanly, but the internal politics are far more dangerous than they first appear.
Turning Point 4
The deeper truth emerges when Holly learns the hidden history of her own parents and the tattoo program developed by Margot, which is passed to the next boss and is meant to kill the previous leader and destroy the stack. Holly also discovers that the Mizumoto leadership has been abusing the system, and Shinji sees Holly as a threat to his coup and sends ninjas to kill her and the bodyguards.
Turning Point 5
The final confrontation centers on the clan’s succession fraud and the personal stakes behind Holly’s search for her parents’ fate; the evidence shows that the death ritual has been manipulated, and Kovacs and Gena are forced to fight through the consequences of Shinji’s power grab while Holly’s role in the tattoo program becomes crucial to exposing the truth.
Ending
Kovacs survives the crisis with Holly and Gena, and the coup is stopped after the hidden succession mechanism and Shinji’s plot are exposed; Tanaseda’s mission is fulfilled enough to settle the criminal conflict on Latimer, while Holly’s connection to the tattoo system and her parents’ past is finally brought into the open.
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