OMG, for some reason I never considered that Kiba might remember! The clothes detail you brought up totally has me convinced that it could be a possibility. Only thing is, in the intro we also see him walk past the other wolves without recognising them (not even by smell?), but I suppose that could simply be for Moody 2000s Anime Opening purposes.
Personally, I've always imagined that their human guises are just visual illusions that translate their wolf body/behaviour into something human looking. Like, I reckon Hige could smuggle a key by hiding it in his mouth, or something xD So, with that understanding, it's difficult to believe that Tsume could ride a motorbike or wear a helmet PFFT buttt, y'know, new world new rules, maybe...?
Anyway, thanks for your long and insightful response! Honestly gave me a lot to chew on (heh, ๐บ) that I hadn't thought of before.
P.S. Now you've got me watching the intro again too, and Hige is wearing his collar in it as well...which raises even more questions?? I guess we can't really see if he's wearing it in the last episode. But also tbh, it would be a little weird if the characters weren't wearing their recognisable clothes in the show's intro.
Oh, the scene of Kiba passing by the others in the intro is actually one of the very few things I did not touch on lol. Idk how to exactly explain it, but my interpretation of that specific part is that it could be symbolic of Kiba's memories of how they were in the past life, hence the outfits we see all throughout the show instead of the different ones, and also how Cheza is shown when it's strongly implied she will physically be a flower this time around.
Either that, or like you mentioned at the end, it's purely due to recognition and not spoiling a part of the ending from a production standpoint, but considering how thought through everything in this series is I feel there's something more to be gathered from this bit.
And anyway, you're welcome!! I love talking about the wolf anime it fills me with so much joy <3