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In Episode 1 of Amanchu!, Hikari states that her nickname is Pikari. In the English subtitles, she offers this explanation

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Hikari: Due to my overly peppy nature, people in junior high called me "Peppy Hikari", "Peppykari", and finally just "Pikari".

Where does this name come from in the original Japanese?

Torisuda
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In Japanese, Pikari (ぴかり) is one of the numerous mimetic words of the language, meaning "in a flash"/"sparklingly"/"brilliantly", mostly associated with thunder and lightning. (Also, Hikari itself means "light", but I don't really know if it's related or not.)

Given the energetic and cheerful nature of Hikari, it's a fitting nickname.

Some references :

RdNetwork
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  • Also, Hikari in Hiragana is written as ひかり while Pikari is ぴかり. The only difference is that Pikari uses the small o (forgot what it is called) on the top right corner of the hi (ひ) character. – 絢瀬絵里 Jul 27 '16 at 12:57
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    Yes, it's basically the same letter with a diacritic (it's called a _handakuten_ if I'm not mistaken) to indicate that the H becomes a P. – RdNetwork Jul 27 '16 at 14:28
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    I figured that Hikari meaning "light" was a reference to _Aria_; Akari also means "light", and Hikari and Akari look similar and play similar roles in the story. – Torisuda Jul 27 '16 at 15:22