In ancient Japan, the saotome (“early maiden” 早乙女) were unmarried girls tasked with planting rice in paddies Saotome is also a Japanese family name. It may refer to: People Mitsugi Saotome, aikido master instructor Taichi Saotome, traditional Japanese stage actor , Japanese actor Fictional characters Ako Saotome from Aikatsu Stars! Alto Saotome from Macross Frontier Genma Saotome, Ranma Saotome and Nodoka Saotome from Ranma ½ Haruna Saotome from Negima! Magister Negi Magi Yae Saotome from Saotome Senshu, Hitakakusu Jin Saotome from Capcom's "Cyberbots" game Junko Saotome, a supporting character from the manga series NANA Makoto Saotome from Kannazuki no Miko Mary Saotome from Kakegurui Mondonosuke Saotome a.k.a. Bored Hatamoto from the series of movies starring Utaemon Ichikawa Otome Saotome from Shimoneta Rei Saotome from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX See also Saotomea, a genus of sea snails São Tomé (disambiguation) Japanese-language surnames