YMMV / Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon

• Audience-Alienating Premise: This game is considerably more lighthearted than any other installment in the series, with the premise playing out as a child-friendly fairytale affair loosely based on Celtic mythology starring a teenage Bayonetta searching for her mother (featuring storybook visuals to match), as opposed to the usual mature-rated blood-soaked apocalyptic save-the-world affairs that play with Christian motifs and have its fair share of foul language starring an adult Bayonetta who serves as a Third-Person Seductress. This is in addition to the Genre Shift, as Cereza and the Lost Demon is a slower-paced Action-Adventure/Puzzle title with a relatively unique "one controller, two characters" control scheme, rather than the fast-paced Stylish Action that the series helped codify. The game being so different that what's typically expected from the franchise meant that, despite highly positive reviews, few fans actually purchased it.
• Awesome Music:
  • The ending credit song, "Le Chéile i bhForaois Sholas na Gealaí" (Together in the Moonlit Forest), is a whimsical fairy tale song sung in Irish that details Cereza's adventures across Avalon Forest and the emotions she felt along the way.
  • The theme for the battle against the Affirmer of Phenomena is an intense but steady theme remixing motifs from Singularity's themes through Bayonetta 3, blended in with a more fantasy-like tune to show off his power in commanding the Faeries in his battle against Jeanne. Though special mention goes to the main rhythm taken from the theme of Singularity Balance, where it sounds slower and more broken, as if Singularity knows he's on the brink of losing, but is desperately trying to cling to his belief that his victory is all but pre-determined.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • Cereza getting to see her mother and having a hug after everything she went through in the game. Considering that Rosa is doomed to die a few years later, the fact that Cereza is able to get some small bit of happiness with her mummy before then is beautiful.
  • In Jeanne's story, she makes sure to beat the utter shit out of Singularity, and considering the atrocities he did back in 3 (particularly that of literally backstabbing the adult Jeanne to kill her, which was met with a hefty amount of fan outcry), you can be sure a ton of fans were happy to lay a beatdown on him with Jeanne, as a kid no less. Adding further insult to injury, one of Singularity's voicelines has him comment on being attacked by an overstuffed toy. Charles, said overstuffed toy, is the one who deals the final blow. That's right, Bayonetta's most powerful opponent to date ultimately meets his end at the hands of a children's plushie doll.
• Complete Monster: After his defeat, Singularity goes back in time to Cereza's childhood, trying to murder the young Arch-Eve Origin. When the young Jeanne interferes, Singularity shows her a vision of her death in the future and offers to spare her if she leaves him alone. When she doesn't, he attempts to murder her too and declares that her death is set in stone.
• Continuity Lockout: If you didn't play 3, you're probably wondering who the heck Jeanne's facing in her side-story. It's a weakened version of Singularity.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • The end of Jeanne's side-story reveals that Jeanne had own adventures to become stronger, not to mention that she single-handedly defeated what was left of Singularity from 3. What type of stories could be told with the knowledge she had obtained?
  • While the game highlights the story as to how Cereza would become Bayonetta, it still leaves a lot of speculation for other things. Particularly, how Bayo would eventually gain a contract with Madame Butterfly.
• Harsher in Hindsight: For those who are familiar with what happened in the main series, it's clear that Rosa and Cereza's heartwarming reunion won't last long.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight:
  • Many of the aspects found in this game can be this in connection to Viola in 3. The fact that Cheshire takes the shape of Cereza's stuffed cat, her name in association to the bracelet of violets Cereza gives her mentor, even the fondness of Cereza has for Lukaon given that she and Luka go down to Inferno together.
  • Speaking of which, the fact that Cereza in 3 gets dragged off with Luka makes it so that she has a happy ending, given that Morgana's only comfort is a hug from her son before she is thrown into Inferno forever.
• Heartwarming Moments: The ending. After everything Cereza has gone throughout the entire game, she has the confidence to use her magic to access Rosa's prison and gets one final embrace with her precious mummy. Rosa is beaming with joy at her daughter having grown.
  Rosa: You have grown into a splendid witch, Cereza. You are going to be just fine.
• Moe: Cereza in Origins is just so adorable with her glasses, her cat ears and the way she smiles and dances about in happiness. She even gets her own version of the original 3 Bayonetta outfits!
• Suspiciously Similar Song: The ending theme has been compared to "Hijo de la Luna".
• Tear Jerker:
  • The beginning of the game has Cereza suffering from a nightmare, alone in the darkness with numerous glowing red eyes and eerie voices chewing her out for being the child of a forbidden love. She's shown sniffling and crying out for her mummy. A tragic reminder that she wasn't always the confident and badass Bayonetta we're familiar with, but a child who was trapped in unfortunate circumstances, with no family to look after her.
  • A happy Tear Jerker, but after everything Cereza has gone throughout the entire game, she finally gets to see her precious mummy, complete with a face reveal as the two embrace.
  • Morgana's backstory. She was once a human woman who fell in love with the King of the Fairies. But an evil group of fairies, led by Puka, led an uprising that killed the king and cursed her son, Lukaon. Desperate to get her son back, she made a contract to become an Umbra Witch and trained witch after witch for years in the hopes they'd enter Avalon Forest to sacrifice a demon to destroy the crystal prison her son was trapped in. Ultimately, it fails with the only happy ending she gets is to hug her son one final time before Lukaon dissolves into light and she is dragged into Inferno.
    • To make things worse, Lukaon's final words before he fades away is for his mother to rest. He had no idea that his mother is going to be Dragged Off Into Hell thanks to Cereza.
  • In the ending dancing scene, Cereza dances with shadows of other witches: Morgana, Jeanne and Rosa. The last one of her dancing alongside her mother, considering all she did was to see her precious mummy again (and with the knowledge that Rosa is doomed to die within a few years) will make you realize how bittersweet this all is. Cereza's life isn't going to get easier from here on out, but for this moment, she's happy.
• Unexpected Character: Jeanne's bonus scenario has a mysterious villain show up and seal young Cereza while Jeanne comes to save her...which turns out to be Singularity in a heavily weakened state.
• The Woobie: Poor Cereza. She's ostracized due to the circumstances of her birth, her mother is sent into a prison for her romance with Baldur (and anyone familiar with the main series knows that she will end up killed later on) and she learns that her mentor is only using her in order to free her son's imprisonment, and she has to ultimately kill her. It's a heavy contrast to the hardened, snazzy Umbran Witch we all knew she would grow up into.
• Woobie Species: Wisps are the ghosts of children who died in Avalon Forest. However, even in death, the faeries continue to torment them for entertainment and harvesting their "vibes".