I've just finished the second chapter and while I'm loving the game... I have no idea what's going on.  The action is some of the best I've experienced in any game... but I'm having trouble following all the madness.

It's been too long since I've played it to help you understand the story (that, and I haven't finished it),  but it doesn't intend to be clear only two chapters in.

Loved the game, but I honestly skipped every single cutscene =)

Its one of those games that give you more explanation as you go deeper into the game.  It is kind of a mystery about her past.

Keep playing it, it'll make sense...

Well, a strange kind of sense.

She's a witch that kills angels and angels don't like that.

I hate myself for saying this, but you're playing the game wrong.

Bayonetta is a witch that has to kill angels to keep herself from being dragged into hell.

Pretty much all you should be aware of right now is that Bayonetta, at some point 500 years ago, fought the chick in Red as part of some kind of ceremony.  Something bad happened involving the witches getting wiped out, and Bayonetta wakes up at the bottom of a lake with a serious case of amnesia a few years before the game starts.  Part of the deal to keep all her awesome witch powers is that she has to kill Angels, and when(if?) she dies she's auto-damned to Hell regardless.  She's after a gem that the witches used to own before they all got killed, and being pursued by the son of the guy who accidentally woke her up.
@Vexed:
But... the cutscenes were awesome!

Impossible to summarize in any coherent way. They'll continue to explain her foggy past--the ambiguity is at the crux of the narrative development.

I'm totally going to keep playing the game.  It's too crazy not to.

it makes perfect sense that it makes no sense.

" it makes perfect sense that it makes no sense.

"

story never made much sense to me either, lol. but i went into this game for the awesome gameplay, wasnt expecting any kind of great story-telling, lol. still watched the cut-scenes though, they were mostly entertaining.

I just started playing and have no fucking idea what is going on. Falling on a broken church and then fighting angels in a cemetary. I have no clue.