In late October of 2024, a new band formed under the name ‘M4GNET4R’. While four out of five members could be traced back to the then recently disbanded group リベラヴェル (Libravel), the vocalist kept his face hidden and even went by the name “『』” – essentially ‘nothing’ or ‘blank’. This decision obviously started a lot of speculation around who he was, and if he had any prior history in the music industry.
While M4GNETAR participated in various live events, the group only released one song and music video online. “#SiX” was composed by guitarist taka, but when you look at the music video and the actual single on steaming services you will notice a stark contrast in sound and visuals. The music video was released on the YouTube channel of record label Bloom, and listed as a project that was still in its prototype phase. With the information we know now, we can tell quite easily that the musicians we see in the video are not the same musicians as the ones we hear on the single itself.
In late June of 2025 M4GNET4R changed their name to LIZA, but the band wasn’t the only name change happening at that moment. Most of the members also changed their names, and the vocalist was also finally revealed. LIZA consists of vocalist HIVARI (ex. Ars Nøva), guitarist and violinist Roki, guitarist ICE, bassist Amane and drummer #FFFFFF – all former members of リベラヴェル (Libravel).
The band’s ‘1st depiction’, “未完の肖像” (Mikan no Syouzou), was released almost immediately after the group’s name change on June 25, but the music video didn’t appear on the YouTube channels of both the band and their record label Bloom until July 12. The ‘2nd depiction’ of the group was released shortly after that, on August 29. However, the music video was revealed a day before it on August 28.
Despite the group having two releases at the moment of writing this article, today we’re only going to be looking at the ‘1st depiction’, saving the second for another day.
Until the day I can call myself “me”
In English “未完の肖像” (Mikan no Syouzou) can be translated to “Unfinished Portrait”, and this already reveals the main subject for the lyrics and music video. Composed by guitarist ICE and with lyrics from vocalist HIVARI, “未完の肖像” (Mikan no Syouzou) tells the story of an unfinished portrait through the eyes of a (somewhat unstable) artist.
But, if you are a little bit familiar with the previous projects of the members you will see influences from both. Some smaller than others, but the biggest influence probably comes from HIVARI’s previous band. Ars Nøva also had an art-based theme, and you can see this making a return in LIZA’s logo already. Under the name you can see the tagline ‘Dark「」es Fantasy’. At first glance this may seem like a typo or even a mistranslation if you look at it from an English-speaking point of view, but if you look a little deeper into the band’s history up until now, you will see that their first oneman live show was titled ‘Art Nouveau’, the second ‘Art Nouveau #2’ and the third scheduled for January of 2026 is titled ‘Art Nouveau #3’. The birthday live shows for #FFFFFF and Roki have been titled ‘historie event Avant-garde~#FFFFFF Naissance’ and ‘historie event Avant-garde~Roki Naissance’ respectively.
It’s pretty safe to conclude that LIZA incorporates a French influence into their works, which makes ‘darkes fantasy’ anything but a typo – instead it is the French version of ‘dark fantasy’. Which again, returns in their first single.
“未完の肖像” (Mikan no Syouzou) is sung almost exclusively in Japanese, with exception of the opening verse: “My broken dream in colors bled. Sleeps with the art I dread.”
As already stated, the song is about an unfinished painting, told from the perspective of the painter. But at the same time it also touches on the mental state of the artist, and how engrossed they have become with this painting, its contours and its colors. But, the story is told in a rather artistic, if not poetic, manner that takes a lot of ‘reading between the lines’ to fully see the story HIVARI is trying to tell us through his lyrics. (If you have been following my works you can probably already guess that this is going to be a problem when we get to the music video part, right? Ominous foreshadowing…)
Verses like “The mixture of good and evil, sitting in the margin, the portrait that emerges. Look, it’s brutal, projecting the truth.” and “Staring at ‘me’ with a secret gaze, as if rejecting eternity. That filthy, indelible jet black. Paint away even my loneliness.” both really show the mental state of the painter. Showing that to them, the painting is more than a collection of colors on a canvas. To them, it is alive.
As stated, the music video has its work cut out for it with the artistic lyrics it has to depict. Because while there is a very clear emotional state being described through them, there is little to nothing it can grab on to in terms of visual storytelling.
However, LIZA have managed to create something that is both fun to look at to see the members doing what they do best (which is of course, performing their music) and still show us a little bit of the story told within the lyrics.
The video opens with a shot of a painting and some empty frames before the guitars kick in and we see more of the artistic decor the members are playing in. Bookshelves with books are visible in front of a damask-style wallpaper and fabrics hung from the ceiling, some even torn and covering a window, in a room lit by floor lamps emitting an orange light. But we also see shots of a room with a chair in the foreground and a vanity in the background, where vocalist HIVARI flickers onto the chair while another figure, our painter, appears in the background at first, but quickly comes to the foreground.
Throughout the video we see shots of the band and individual members, but also a candle-lit room where our painter resides. Putting more paint on the canvas as the song progresses, until HIVARI’s melodic vocals make way for a long scream where the lyrics are mostly spoken over.
“If you gently trace the distorted outline, the days of remembrance smiled gently at me. Break, forgive, love. Yes, you are me and I am you.” At the same time we see the painter covered in dark paint, showing their mental state has slipped to a much darker place than it should. Consumed by their work, something that is also stated through “Now, with a vivid overflowing crimson, I will portray life.”.
However, while we don’t get to see the finished painting in the video, the lyrics do suggest it has been completed by the end of the song with “A smile announces the tranquil completion.”.
Conclusion
While it may not seem like it at first glance, “未完の肖像” (Mikan no Syouzou) paints a picture (I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist the urge to make this pun) that not only layers its storytelling like one would layer the colors on a canvas, it also incorporates elements of dark fantasy within their first work. Every element is very subtle, and an extremely stark contrast to the only available work we have from M4GNET4R. Where one feels like an experimental work ‘to see what is possible’, the other feels like a far more polished work with an art-based concept.
At the moment this article is published, LIZA have already finished the birthday live shows for drummer #FFFFFF and guitarist/violinist Roki, but you can still catch them at their oneman live show ‘Art Nouveau #3’ at 池袋EDGE (Ikebukuro EDGE) on January 13, 2026. Their first tour ‘東名阪’ (Toumeihan – an abbreviation of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka) will also start the next day on January 14.
More about LIZA
      |   |  |  |
 |  |
雪 (Yuki) is the owner and driving force behind Arlequin.
She originally started the project in 2009 as a photographer under the name of Arlequin Photography, but developed an interest in journalism and translation ever since. Because of these interests interviews and reviews were added to the project, until it eventually hit the limits as a "photographer" in 2021, and Arlequin Magazine was added to the mix.
雪 (Yuki) is a native Dutch speaker with a graphic design degree, which means she is also the main person behind Arlequin Creations.
After all these years, she's still the one responsible for the interviews and most of the live photography you see here at Arlequin, but the majority of reviews and behind-the-scenes work is also done by her.
The reviews she writes are from the viewing point of an overseas fan, and thus written in English before being translated to Dutch, Spanish and Japanese. In the English versions she also tries to explain the meaning behind certain kanji or song titles to the readers, but what you don't see here is that these explanations are omitted in the Japanese versions in order to appeal to these readers more.
She speaks Dutch and English on a native level, but also understands Japanese and German.