Personally I would make an anime that tells the story of the Dragon Ball manga fairly closely (as a single series - I think this is important). Obviously I'd go for a modern standard of animation quality. The pacing would be faster than the existing anime series, but generally slower than the manga. Most anime filler, such as extended fights and repetitive pointless footage would not survive. There would be more footage that makes it clear that the characters are just people though, scenes of people hanging around Kame House (though not six times in the middle of a fight, like in the current anime, just in times of peace), the development of relationships that we really missed out on, like the whole Kuririn and 18 thing, stuff from the beginning of Gohan's life and stuff like that. The pacing of the battle between Goku and Freeza in Kai was pretty good, but the pacing of the Imperfect Cell part of Z was also good. I'd use the Japanese names for things, in general, though translate them when I think it works better that way. I really like using "God", "Lord of Worlds" and "Lord of Lords".
I'd pack the series full of content, such as stuff we've learned from the Daizenshuus that was never made clear in the manga or anime, and every episode would have a decent amount of content. I'd correct any inconsistencies in the current series, improve (in my eyes) some explanations of things, and add foreshadowing and mention things some time before they're necessary for the story rather than immediately before, to make it seem much more solid and planned (even though it originally wasn't, this new version is). The line "Well I have a tail, so maybe I'm not human, who knows?" in the Dragon Ball dub was brilliant for this, though I'm thinking more of something like someone commenting on Goku's ability to become more powerful by being beaten before we find out he's a Saiyan, so that things like that don't just come out of nowhere. Kaio could explain that ability to Goku as something like "on Earth, adaptation to one's environments occurs over several generations, but the Saiyan's have the unique ability to adapt as individuals, in an entirely different way. When they heal after some sort of injury, they change in such a way as to prevent the same injury from occurring again, which means becoming stronger after losing a battle". That's one example of what I think of as an improved explanation.
I'd like to keep the transition from cheerful to serious that Dragon Ball has. The story is essentially that of Son Goku's life, and I'd like the change in tone to parallel his growing up. If anything, I'd want to increase this contrast. The number of episodes would almost definitely be shorter, so that would increase the gradient of the change, but I'd want to darken everything from the Freeza arc onwards for good measure. I quite like the Eastern feel that the Kikuchi score gives the series, and I'd want to maintain that. I'd also want a completely orchestral score, even though sometimes I think more techy music suits the Freeza and Cell sagas more. Or perhaps not necessary "orchestral", but certainly "you can identify every sound as a musical instrument"
Generally, certain qualities of the characters like speech mannerisms are lost in translation. I'd really like things like that to survive, anything that makes a character more like a fully-developed real person is good. Goku talking folksy is great, and Piccolo's eloquence in the Viz translation of the manga, even if it's not completely accurate, really suits his character in my eyes. Some of the characters are really quite intelligent without us really appreciating it enough, these include Piccolo, Roshi, Vegeta, Freeza, and Cell. Even if it's not very often I'd like these guys to occasionally do or say something that reminds us that they're damn smart, whether it's suggesting some really clever strategy, referencing some scientific principle, or Roshi actually reading "Mystical Oriental Philosophy" just one time rather than just hiding a dirty magazine inside it.
As for actual changes, the biggest would be that I'd like some people to sometimes actually stay dead, but only if they're going to be useless for the rest of the series anyway. Rather than have them brought back to life only to never contribute again, I'd rather change the rules or circumstances a little bit and have them stay dead. I feel this is less degrading for the characters, and it serves the purpose of destroying the view that is doesn't matter if someone dies because everyone always comes back. I don't like characters being left behind, unless they've just gone completely, so that can be counted by either having them leave the show or not shrinking down their roles quite so much. Tenshinhan played a part in the Cell arc, just after Cell absorbed 17, and a couple of moments like that are good enough for me. Other, smaller changes include things like the following. The super saiyan legend would say that, while all Saiyans have black hair, once there was a golden haired super Saiyan who was the most powerful warrior in the universe. This makes it seem like the super Saiyan was born fair haired, which would of course turn out to be a misconception. I'd like it to seem like Muten Roshi actually teaches his students something, I'd replace the king of the world with the "President of the United Earth" or something like that. I'd like to make the Saiyan's seem like they're actually pretty intelligent, I don't remember if it was anime-only or not that they stole their technology from the other species on their planet, but I don't like that, they're more advanced than humans. The end of DBZ wasn't that great, so I'd either end the story with Goku meeting Pan for the first time shortly after she's born, or use a take on the Kanzenban ending, that draws out the parallels between Uub and young Goku, and also the parallels between Goku and Roshi as he steps down to take the role as a mentor for the next generation, as they both really did the same thing.
So, like I said, tell me about your visions, and feel free to comment on mine
