Compare it to Ivy Valentine from the Soul Series (I saw some of your Youtube videos, so I know you know who I'm talking about), she's just blatant eye candy who happens to be a smart educated woman.

That's a very fair and accurate outlook. I like Ivy but in the sense that I like how in the story, she's this tragic character who's trying to free herself from her cursed blood. Her ending in SC3 always gets me. But that said, I know what she was intended for. I'm not the target demographic what with being a gay man so her design doesn't titulate me but I know that to the majority demographic, she was designed as nothing but shallow sex candy. Like they don't even give a reason why she dresses in BDSM attire whereas her alternate costumes usually have some sort of sense to them.

But I agree with you, comparing Bayonetta and Ivy, Bayonetta is not as shallow a design compared to the latter. Her design has purpose and character and despite the suggestive posing, it does feel like she is in control of herself and the whole "You can look but don't touch" is very true.

I always try to be very analytical when it comes to characters like this. It's why I said what I said about Ivy in my SC videos and mentioning what designs work and don't work for her (That Soul Calibur 4 outfit will always be one I despise lol) but with Bayonetta, I feel like she could be the embodiment of what a woman could feel like if she had unlimited power and facing the world with not a care in the world. Because Bayonetta may do some suggestive poses, it's because she knows she can and that if anyone were to mess with her, she can unleash her demonic power on them lol.

what a woman character designer would do (although more likely she would have a bit more of a grounded reality if what a woman would behave and dress like in her society in her character designs and development).

One thing that I always wanted to try asking is having women who are artists try and design what they would see as an awesome character design. I just can't think of many women in the gaming scene who are head directors who control what designs should be. I think kingdom Hearts has one? But I'm not sure. Either way, I'd like to see some women try their hand on this and then we could compare and contrast them against designs done by men.