'Altered Carbon: Resleeved' Ending Explained: The show has the potential for a lot more stories in the future
This article contains spoilers for 'Altered Carbon: Resleeved'
The highly anticipated anime film 'Altered Carbon: Resleeved', a prequel to Netflix's hit sci-fi action thriller 'Altered Carbon', is finally here and it is glorious. With impressive action sequences, intense character moments, and a gripping mystery plot, the movie feels more like a pilot for a show than a standalone flick.
The movie follows the adventures of Takeshi Kovacs (Tatsuhisa Suzuki) on the planet Latimer as he attempts to protect a young tattoo artist called Holly Togram (Ayaka Asai) while trying to solve the murder of a yakuza boss, under orders from Tanaseda Hideki, another yakuza boss who was played by James Saito in 'Altered Carbon' Season 2.
Kovacs is joined on this adventure by a no-nonsense CTAC agent (Rina Satou) who goes by the name Gena but is actually Kovacs's sister Reileen Kawahara.
'Altered Carbon: Resleeved' presents a thrilling ride filled with blood and gore, with a multi-generational mystery at the very heart of it all. And the best part? This is quite clearly not the end of this story.
Ending Explained
As it turns out, Tanaseda Hideki's father never actually gave his life for the syndicate as was the tradition he himself had instituted. Instead, he had been killing off the new bosses and taking over their sleeves to maintain loyalty from his men while allowing himself to rule forever.
After a brutal battle with Takeshi Kovacs, the villain's self-destruct tattoo is activated by Holly and he's finally put out of his misery by Tanaseda. In the aftermath of the battle, Holly is free to leave Latimer and live out her life while Gena/Reileen departs for places unknown. We also find out that Holly is actually Margot, the tattoo artist who invented the self-destruct mechanism that allowed Tanaseda's father to create his farcical tradition.
Although Kovacs technically completed the job he was given, Tanaseda isn't ready to release him from their bargain yet and offers him another job, setting up a potential sequel to the story and a fresh adventure for the Envoy, on a new world and in a new sleeve.
Sequel potential
Considering the movie picks up just a year after the Battle of Stronghold, there's literally decades worth of Kovacs's life that's left to explore. We know that at some point he will get his trademark tattoos and we're guessing Holly will be the one to give them to him, which would explain why they hold such sentimental value for the warrior.
And with Reileen still out in the universe, the siblings are bound to find each other again at some point, even if she doesn't reveal her survival to Kovacs till their fateful encounter in 'Altered Carbon' Season 1.
Plus, as it stands, Tanaseda is yet to owe Kovacs the debt he repaid in 'Altered Carbon' Season 2 so there's that to look forward to as well.
While the live-action show has taken a more serialized form, the anime movie could spawn a series of loosely connected sequels, each following the Envoy on a different mission. Whether those sequels are more movies or perhaps even a show, we're definitely going to keep our eyes peeled for when they arrive.
'Altered Carbon: Resleeved' is currently available for streaming on Netflix.