This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Meta4: Here's the stuff I cut from the article, in case someone disagrees with me about its applicability:
This may come from the manga convention of having many, many "sound effects" describing actions, emotions and even states of being. For example, to get across the concept of complete silence, a manga will often have a giant "SHI------N" across the panel. (It's sorta the manga equivalent of Chirping Crickets.)
The point is that "piku" is an onomatopoeic representation of blinking; what in an American comic might be written "blink blink". So, given that the manga has "piku" in it, why not have a "piku" sound effect? Of course, it doesn't sound that much like "piku"...
