After graduating from Miyakojima Technical Senior High School, Kanbe moved to Tokyo and went to a Professional Training College while delivering newspapers to maintain himself. He joined Studio Topcraft and as his first job he worked as production assistant on Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
In the late '80s and early '90s he worked on several NHK educational anime for children while he had his debut as director with the OVA Ninja Ryuukenden in 1991.
In 1997 he established Studio Garan with several employees of Studio Junio (which he had previously joined). Garan was one of the subcontracting studios for Cardcaptor Sakura and the episodes Kanbe directed garnered much attention. He left Garan in 2000.
