Basque cheesecake went through a 'trendy' phase in Japan starting in around 2018-9. Out of all the conbini versions, Lawson struck gold with their take - the Baschee. That's meant to be a cute nickname, it sounds weird but you'll get used to it.
The Baschee is a really thick (in the good, delicious way) mini cheesecake. It's rich and satisfying to eat, but not too big that you can't finish it.
At launch in March 2019, Lawson sold over 1 million Baschees in the first 3 days. That puts it at #1 for the fastest-selling dessert they've ever released, knocking the Premium Roll Cake (which took 5 days to reach 1 million sold) off the top spot.
At one point, Lawson claimed they were selling 4 Baschees every second.
My personal opinion: I love the stuff. I'd eat a Baschee every day if my metabolism played nice.
To keep the cheesecake love going, a new limited-edition Baschee is released every few months. (In 2020, they brought out a chocolate-coated ice cream bar version as well.) For summer 2021, it's the 'BeryVery' Baschee with berry sauce.
It costs the same as other special editions (like the Tiramisu Baschee earlier in 2021), at 380 yen. The classic Baschee is 225 yen, so you're basically paying an extra 155 yen for the toppings.
I assumed the katakana was meant to be 'very berry' right up until I saw the packaging. As you might've been able to tell, Lawson loves making up these nicknames for sweets. See also: the zakushu, the hoboclim, the miloop, and the mochipuyo.
The standard Baschee is topped with cream, which is decorated with bits of fruit and berry sauce. (If you're worried about the topping mix being way too sweet, that cream is in fact sour cream. The tiramisu version featured coffee cream.)
I tell a small lie - this isn't a standard Baschee, not really, because you can see berries mixed into the cheesecake. Those are cranberries, so the press release says, and the topping contains blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries.
All that added fruit means you get berry flavour in every bite. I like that. It tastes like an actual berry cheesecake, not a plain one with some syrup on top.
I tried to think of cheesecake cons to balance this review out, and I came up with 2:
1) The berry mix is so mixed, it's hard to tell which ones they are. Only putting cranberry in the cheesecake itself means that taste is much clearer, but the sauce on top is 'generic berry'. It doesn't taste fake, but it doesn't taste any more strongly of, say, the strawberry or blueberry.
2) Too much cream on top. It was in constant danger of falling over. Every spoonful you take compromises the remaining cheesecake's structural integrity. You don't have to worry about that with the classic one.
They're not a big deal, though. If you wolf the thing down without looking back, like I did, it's unlikely to collapse. And if you like berries, you'll be happy enough with the taste.
Verdict: 9/10. Lawson should make this version a regular one.