There's an interesting aspect of how RWBY sets up romance arcs, and I'm not entirely sure how to phrase it so, for the purposes of this post, I'm gonna establish some terminology first
So let's say that set-up/build-up for a romantic relationship between characters can generally be described as Blatant, Overt, Coy, or Subtle, and I've ordered those categories from Most Obvious About It to Least Obvious About It
Blatant is stuff like the characters falling over each other then gasping and blushing as they stare into each other's eyes, or Character A looking Character B up and down while heart symbols fill up the screen. The story is screaming that there's something there
Overt is when the show is not hiding that these characters are heading that way but also not being in your face about it - it's flirting and winking at each other, or the scene cutting to Character A right after Character B was shown expressing a desire for a relationship with an unspecified someone. Blushes that are less over-the-top than the kind I described in Blatant often fall into this category
Coy is when the idea of a romance between the characters is acknowledged as a possibility, but the narrative does not necessarily confirm that it'll actually be a thing. This is stuff like someone asking the characters how long they've been dating and the characters awkwardly explaining that they're not. If they're blushing at each other but the story plays it off as a joke, it's this. Blatant and Coy build-up can sometimes be similar, but the difference lies in whether it seems like you're expected to actually think this will lead to a romance
Subtle is when it doesn't definitively point towards a romance, but there is stuff that supports that interpretation. These characters are inextricably linked and trust each other unconditionally, when they need help they always turn to each other before anyone else, their designs always include part of each other's color schemes, they will take any opportunity to be by each other's side. This variety of build-up can be hard to tell apart from just developing the characters' relationship (generic term), because it is that, just in a way that could be interpreted romantically
Parallels between the characters in question and a different group of characters that also has something romantic going on can be either Overt or Subtle depending on how obvious that parallel is. When these parallels are Subtle, they are the type of Subtle build-up that I would say most supports a romantic interpretation
So taking a look at how RWBY builds up its romances (and I am not looking at the various spin-offs and side projects here, in part because not all of them write things the same way):
Arkos starts out Overt - "where am I gonna find another nice quirky girl to talk to" *walks off-screen, revealing Pyrrha behind where he was, in the center of the shot* - but quickly moves to Subtle, back to Overt (at least on Pyrrha's end) during the dance storyline, then back to Subtle until we get Overt again in Volume 3
Renora has a lot of Coy moments in Volumes 1-4, and there's a fair amount ot Subtle build-up - especially after Volume 3 - but (unless I'm forgetting something) it's really only in Volume 6 that we start getting Overt Renora build-up (like Nora referring to Ren as her man). For the first four Volumes, the idea of Ren and Nora getting together is there but mostly used for comedy, as we spend more time with them we get to know them better as characters and get a better idea of what they are to each other, at which point the story starts treating the idea of a romance between them more seriously
Even though Blake and Sun did not end up happening and I'm pretty sure the show was always gonna go with Bumbleby, they do get at least some build-up, including a few Overt moments in Volumes 1 and 2. You could make a case for that initial wink being Blatant rather than Overt though. There's some Subtle build-up but this actually ends up going the other direction and transitioning into pure friendship
Bumbleby get some Subtle stuff in Volume 1, has a fairly even blend of Subtle (like Yang's talk to Blake in Burning The Candle) and Overt (like Yang's "I'll save you a dance" line at the end of her talk to Blake in Burning The Candle) build-up starting in Volume 2, and gradually gets more and more Overt from Volume 6 onwards. Interestingly, a lot of the Overt build-up (especially pre-Atlas) is conveyed less through how Blake and Yang interact with each other (like the line I just quoted earlier) and more through things like visual symbolism or other characters pointing out that it seems like there's something there
It's not canon, so unless/until that changes it doesn't really affect the rest of this analysis, but I had to include it because 1. I have a reputation to maintain, and 2. I do genuinely think it'll happen: WhiteRose gets some Overt moments, especially in Volume 6, but the majority of their build-up is Subtle, and there is so much of it - literally every example I gave when talking about what I mean by Subtle build-up was referencing Ruby and Weiss have, and I was thinking of them when I wrote the part about the parallels too
Each of these examples is different, but they all have Subtle set-up (and I would say each of them except Blake and Sun is mostly Subtle), the 3 who have actually gotten together all got more Overt immediately before that (though an uptick in Overt moments does not necessarily mean they'll be getting together now, and a decrease in Overt moments does not necessarily mean they're not going to get together - Bumbleby and Arkos alike demonstrate both of those), and with the possible exception of Sun's wink to Blake, none of them have anything I would consider Blatant build-up
You know who does get Blatant build-up towards a romance? Neptune and Weiss. Which doesn't exactly go well
I dunno, I just think it's interesting that RWBY approaches romances this way
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